Sports - December 2003

East Lincoln sweeps the Knights

By JOHN MARK BROOKS, Staff Writer

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A friendly rivalry got underway Wednesday night with the East Lincoln Mustangs defeating the North Lincoln Knights 51-29 on North’s home floor.

“I thought for a Wednesday night game it was a good crowd. The fans were excited. A lot of the kids have gone to school with each other for the last couple of years, so it was the start of a good friendly rivalry,”

Darin Dellinger paced the Mustangs pouring in 17 points. While teammate Dante Roseboro had a solid outing with nine points.

Wayne White was the game’s highest scorer shooting his way to 19 points. Most of White’s points came via the free throw line.

The Mustangs’ defensive pressure was the difference in the ball game. Assistant coach Chip Ashley was pleased with their intensity.

“Defensively we set the tone. We caused a lot of turnovers, which led to a lot of easy baskets. I was very happy with the way our defense played,” he said.

Ashley said that Dellinger’s work ethic bring out the best.

“He’s our hardest worker by far. He’s trying to become a team leader. He hustles all the time for us and since he works hard good things are happening for him,” he said.

Tonight, the Mustangs will run into their biggest rival, the Lincolnton Wolves which features standouts Eric and Darren Wilson.

“They have two extremely talented players. It will be a good test for us because they return five starters and we return five starters as well. Traditionally, it’s been a good rivalry,” Ashley said.

The Mustangs are excited to get on the court with the Wolves.

“It’s on a Friday night, our kids are excited, their kids are excited. It’s our biggest rival by far so we expect our kids to play well,” Ashley said.

The Mustangs’ win against the Knights improves their record to 2-2 on the season. The loss drops the Knights’ record to 0-5.

Varsity Women’s

The Lady Mustangs continued to roll, beating the North Lincoln Lady Knights 44-28 Wednesday night.

North kept it close early, down 11 to eight at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Mustangs scored 12 points in the second quarter to give them a 23-18 edge at the half.

North Lincoln head coach Mark Lackey was happy with his team’s first half effort.

“In the first half we were able to get the ball inside effectively, which loosened up their zone. That put us down by five at the half. In the second half, coach Barkley tightened that zone up and made it harder for us to get the ball inside,” he said.

That coaching adjustment by Barkley resulted in a lot of missed perimeter shots for the Lady Knights.

 “We just weren’t effective enough from the outside,” he said.

The Lady Mustangs put 15 points on the board in the third quarter to take command of the game. It was a lead they would not relinquish.

The game’s leading scorer was Sara Flemming with 18 points. Her teammate, Leslie Marlowe, chipped in 12 points. Kim Scercy added eight.

Lackey believes Flemming is the main cog in the Lady Mustangs’ engine.

“She is outstanding. Flemming is a go-to player that makes them tick. She also has a lot of support around her. She’s so good off the dribble from the high post position,” he said.

Brittany Reel paced the Lady Knights with 12 points. Three players, Jessie Devine, Caroline Farris and Catherine Thorne, each contributed six points.

Sara McCall and Devine were a force on the boards with eight rebounds each. The Knights as team totaled 17 offensive rebounds. Lackey was thrilled with their effort.

“Up to this game we weren’t getting a lot of second opportunities on the offensive end. But we had 17 tonight and that’s 34 possible points. Anytime, you can do that it gives you an opportunity to be more successful. I was ecstatic about our offensive rebounding,” he said.

Lackey took nothing away from his opponent.

“East Lincoln has a good club. They have a good inside game and they shoot the ball well. They pulled us out of our zone and when they did they got some nice feeds to Flemming and Scercy,” he said.

Despite the loss Lackey felt there were some positives his team should retain.

“We played pretty good defense although we got beat by 16. We also rebounded well and were much more aggressive,” he said.

The win for the Lady Mustangs improves their record to 3-1 on the season. The loss drops the Lady Knights’ record to 2-3.

East Lincoln: Sara Flemming 18, Leslie Marlowe 12, Kim Scercy 8, Susan Rutledge 2, Toree Roseboro 4.

North Lincoln: Jessie Devine 6, Caroline Farris 6, Catherine Thorne 6, Sara McCall 3, Lindsey Smith 3, Brittany Mabe 2, Brittany Reel 12.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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