Eighth-grader Bailey Taylor (#22) looks across court for an open teammate. Taylor opened the Lady Eagles’ scoring by nailing a 3-pointer in just under a minute of play and went on to tally seven points on the night.
The Richard Winn Eagles proved themselves the mightier “birds” as both varsity basketball teams soared to big victories over the Greenwood Christian Hawks at the Eagle Nest Friday. The win was especially sweet for the boys’ squad – putting them back into the win column after a long drought and earning them their first victory in region competition. The Lady Eagles continue to dominate all of their SCISA competition-to-date and captured their 18th win of the season while posting a 4-0 region record.
Boys’ coach Joe Pitt was all smiles and full of compliments for his players after their dominating performance, adding that his players worked hard throughout the entire game to earn the big 73-29 win over the visiting Hawks. The Eagles players combined talent to knock down 11 3-pointers, six of those coming from leading scorer Cameron Cooper who also hit two 2-point baskets to tally 20 for the night. Patrick Pope was not far behind Cooper with a 16 point total. Nine of the 12-member squad inked points in the scorebook, including Logan Gibbons and Reid Johnson with seven apiece, Mason Gibbons and Joseph Goldin added six each, Mitchell Gibbons and Gunnar Hensley contributed five each, and Rob O’Connor added a point from the charity stripe.
Playing without starter Jessie Stidham, who was out because of illness, girls’ head coach Jason Haltiwanger is fortunate to be able to draw from his talented pool of bench depth. His players never lost focus and continued their usual game plan to start the game in a full court press, get on the scoreboard quickly and establish a comfortable lead. All nine of the team members got lots of playing time in the rather lop-sided 60-12 victory over the visiting Lady Hawks.
Leading the scoring column again was junior captain Carson Justice who tallied 23 points, four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and 10 steals. Eighth-grader Alyssa Atkerson followed with 13 points, two assists and nine steals, while freshman Jaycie Johnson added 12 points, seven rebounds, one assist and five steals. Teammates Bailey Taylor, Cassidy Branham and Marion Walker Coleman contributed seven, four and one point, respectively. Junior Anna Cooke’s stellar defensive play and hustle continue to be a consistent hallmark of the team.
The Eagle teams hit the road for their next two games, traveling to Spartanburg both times to match up again against the Spartanburg Day Griffins and the Spartanburg Christian Warriors before returning home for their final home game on Monday, when they’ll face Mid-Carolina High School once again. Eagle seniors Corey Davis, Logan Gibbons, Reid Johnson and their parents will be honored during the Senior Night festivities of this last regular season home contest.
