Newton County High School’s Yasmine Broach tries to work her way through Union High School defenders Tuesday night in Decatur.

DECATUR — Although Newton County High School’s football season ended in November, basketball head coach Steve Harber still used the Cougars’ loss on the gridiron to motivate his players ahead of their contest against the Yellowjackets on the hardwood.

That the two schools are bitter rivals didn’t hurt, either.

Fueled by 19 first-quarter points, the Cougars (5-5) defeated Union 60-36 Tuesday night in a game in which they never trailed.

“We talked about coming out and setting the tone before the game,” Harber said. “They beat us in football, and some of these guys play football. They came out aggressive, and ready to play.”

Newton County set up from behind the 3-point line early and established that was where it would inflict its damage. Ethan McMullan hit two 3-pointers in the opening period, and Kamon Shelwood joined with a trey to give the Cougars an 11-4 lead with 3:45 left in the first quarter. Union’s (4-2) Donavon Hickman scored five points in the first as the Yellowjackets trailed Newton County 19-7 to close the quarter.

McMullan, Jaylin Nicholson, A.J. Snapp and Yunish Billy combined to score Newton County’s 22 second-quarter points, as McMullan continued his assault from beyond the arch by adding two more 3-pointers, and Snapp came off the bench to score three field goals to help give the Cougars a 41-15 halftime lead.

After failing to log a single point during the first two quarters, Newton County’s K.D. Hunt put on a show in the third as he rolled up nine of the Cougars’ 11 points. Union’s Jevon Williams and Jonathan Gibson scored all nine of the Yellowjackets’ points in the period, as Newton County extended its lead to 52-24 at the close of the quarter.

“We didn’t get (K.D.) the ball very much in the first half, but we were making a lot of outside shots,” Harber said. “We decided at the half to get him the ball, and see what would happen. He’s pretty smooth for a big guy, and he made us some buckets. He got fouled, and made two or three and-ones down there.”

Gibson scored three free throws and two field goals to tally seven points in the final period, but the Cougars added eight points to hold onto the win.

“We turned the basketball over a few times early in the first half, and they have a lot of size,” Union head coach Josh Luckett said. “We haven’t seen a team that big, which we tried to plan for, but it’s hard to demonstrate that in practice when you don’t have that type of size. It’s still early, and we just have to go to work.”

McMullan led the Cougars with 12 points, all from beyond the arch, and Hunt and Nicholson chipped in with 11 apiece.

Gibson’s 14 points paced the Yellowjackets. 

NEWTON COUNTY 64, 

UNION GIRLS 49

Chelsea Giles and Tiffany Wilson each scored 14 points to help lead Newton County past Union 64-49 Tuesday night.

Newton County (7-2) used four first-quarter turnovers to set the tempo for the opening period. Wilson scored eight points, including two free throws, to give the Lady Cougars a 16-14 lead at the end of the quarter.

“We did a lot better than we’ve done in the past couple of games,” Newton County head coach Cory Cleveland said. “We’ve been really struggling at times, and tonight we kind of brought it all together and played a well-rounded ball game.”

Union (3-4) went on an 8-4 run to open the second quarter, and the Lady Yellowjackets took a 22-20 lead with 5:18 remaining in the period after a field goal by Ericka Huddleston, who contributed four of Union’s eight points during the run before Cory Cleveland called a timeout to regroup. The Lady Cougars responded with a 6-0 run, giving them a 28-24 lead with 2:23 remaining in the period.

Newton County closed out the second quarter on a 14-6 run, highlighted with a 3-pointer by Cassie Denson with one second left on the clock to give the Lady Cougars a 36-28 advantage at the break.

Six different players scored in the first three minutes of the third quarter to extend Newton County’s lead to 49-34. Union’s Parker Breland netted eight points, but the Lady Cougars’ 20-point third quarter pushed them ahead to a 56-38 lead to end the period.

Breland added another 10 points in the final period, but Newton County’s first-half run proved too much to overcome.

“I feel that we are united as a team, and we play for each other,” Giles said. “We continue to make each other better and better, and push each other to the limit. Even though we have many games ahead of us, we are most concerned with the next game.”

Breland’s 22 points led Union, while teammate Mackenzie Dolan scored 13.