DECATUR — The Northeast Lauderdale High School basketball teams traveled to Decatur and took two hard-fought Region-5 Class 4-A games from Newton County High School Tuesday night.

    The Lady Trojans fell behind early on but Quinesha Moss got the hot hand and led her team to a 44-43 victory.

    Northeast Coach Frederick Liddell said he was proud of the way his squad kept chipping away to get the win.

    “I keep telling them to just keep it close and give yourselves an opportunity,” Liddell said. “We got a great team effort. Moss played hard, and this team was so unselfish to rally around her.”

    Newton County coach Cory Cleveland saw his team miss opportunities in the game that led to the Northeast comeback.

    “We struggled in the paint and on the free-throw line,” Cleveland said. “If we had made it work there, it would have been a different result.”

    Newton County jumped out to an 11-8 lead after one quarter of play and extended their lead to 25-20 at the halftime break.

    The third quarter was all Moss, as she scored all 10 of her teams points, and the Lady Trojans’ defense held Newton County to only five to knot the score at 30 with a quarter left to play.

    Moss remained hot, scoring 11 points in the final frame, but the Lady Cougars never gave up. After falling behind 44-38 with less than two minutes left to play, Newton County got a bucket from Yasmine Branch off of an offensive rebound, and Cassie Denson nailed a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left to play, but Northeast was able to run the clock out and take the win, 44-43.

    Moss led all scorers with 29 points. Denson and Chelsea Giles had 10 points apiece for Newton County.

NORTHEAST BOYS 38,

NEWTON COUNTY 30

    It was a defensive struggle as the Northeast boys came out on top Tuesday night.

    Trojans coach Lewis Lightsey’s team was able to take an early lead on fast-break points and led the entire game.

    “We took advantage of some turnovers and converted them into fast-break lay ups,” Lightsey said.

Lightsey also said he was pleased with the inside play that he got from Adrian Anthony and Rafael Walker.

    “Newton County took our guards away but Adrian and Rafael came up big for us tonight,” Lightsey added.

    Northeast, 4-0 in region play, took a 9-5 lead after the first quarter and stretched it to 19-13 at the half.

    Newton County’s K. D. Hunt hit nine points in the third period, but Anthony and Walker made baskets at the end of the quarter to give the Trojans a seven-point lead, 32-25, after the third period.

    The fourth quarter was mostly defense, with the first score of the frame coming on a Trojans basket with just 2:25 left to play. Newton County got two baskets late in the quarter, but the Trojans held on to take the 38-30 win.

    Harvest Brunson led Northeast with nine points. Anthony and Walker tallied eight points each. Hunt led Newton County with 15 points, followed by Yunish Billy with nine points.

    Northeast returns to action Friday night traveling to Mendenhall High School for a regional matchup. Newton County travels to Clarke County Friday night to take on region foe Quitman High School.