Knights shut down Panthers

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February 1, 2012

By Brandon Lee Ward / Special to The Star The Meridian Star The Meridian Star Wed Feb 01, 2012, 06:00 AM CST

MERIDIAN —     The West Lauderdale Knights avoided a season sweep by division rival Quitman on Tuesday night, beating the Panthers 50-37.

   Quitman won the first meeting earlier in the season 53-52.

   "We held them to 37 points that’s a great defensive effort,” said WL coach Duran Clark. “We didn’t have to get the boys ready too much because they were ready for this one. They felt that they should have won the first meeting, so I am proud of the performance tonight.”

   The game started off to West’s advantage as the Knights developed a 9-2 run with 3:42 left in the first. Quitman began to chop the lead down to 9-7 after a free-throw and two consecutive shots by Tarvarious Moore.

   The Knights held on to a 15-9 lead after Chris Rhoney knocked down two free throws ending the first quarter.

   Rhoney and J.D. Williams made their presence known, scoring 18 points apiece for the Knights.

   West continued to create a gap in the second quarter at one time leading 19-11 after Williams made two free-throws. The Knights furthered this lead after Jalen Terrell hit a 3-pointer, tallying the score 22-11 with 2:35 left in the half.

   Before the end of the second quarter Quitman’s Shaquille Donald hit an easy 3; however the Panthers still trailed 24-16 heading into the locker rooms.

   Williams opened up the second half stealing the ball from Josh Cannon and bringing it back for the score pushing the Knights to a 12 point lead. With 2:38 left in the third, Cannon forced himself to the rim cutting the deficit down to 30-23. Cannon led the Panthers in scoring with 10 points,three rebounds and two steals.

   The Panthers then scored two consecutive field goals to bring the game to its closest score since the start, 31-29, ending the third quarter.

   Rhoney opened up the final quarter scoring 6 consecutive points moving the Knights back up to a 37-29 lead. Williams then jumped over defenders to dunk the ball making it a 10-point game. Things would only get worse for the Panthers as they were outscored 19-8 in the fourth.

Quitman girls    68

West Lauderdale   42

   The Panthers finished off West Lauderdale and finishing off a season sweep against their division rivals. Quitman got off to an 8-0 run starting the first quarter.

   West Lauderdale finally put two on the board after Silvia Jenkins knocked down an easy shot. Quitman (21-4) executed tough defensive effort causing the Knights to turn over the ball four consecutive times.

   The Panthers finished the first quarterleading 20-8.

   However, Quitman quickly recovered after Tatyana Dobbins hit a 3-pointer under pressure, pushing the score to 23-8. The Knights then scored score unanswered points to shorten their gap to 23-15 with 5:08 remaining.

   The Panthers pulled away to a 31-16 lead after Ameonia House forced herself through traffic easily to score four consecutive points. House ended the night leading the Panthers in scoring with a remarkable total 21 points. The Panthers walked to the locker rooms holding on to a 38-22 lead.

   Brittney Warren was the first to score for the Knights, opening the second half. Warren would lead the Knights scoring 12 points.

   With 4:07 remaining in the third quarter, Quitman furthered their lead to 45-38 after House raced across the court for a score. Quitman lead 53-30 after three and then 10 unanswered points opening the final quarter.

   “I thought all in all we gave a great effort tonight,” said Panther coach Mike Coleman. “We need to a better job blocking out though, we need to capitalize on second chance points. If we can fix this, I think we will be good to go.”

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