Blythewood’s Bromel Johnson flies into double-coverage underneath the basket Tuesday night against Dreher. (Photo/Kristy Kimball Massey)
BLYTHEWOOD – Dreher High School swept through Blythewood Tuesday night, knocking off both the Bengal boys’ and girls’ basketball squads.
Lady Bengals
The Lady Bengals basketball team (2-2) made their home debut Tuesday night against the Lady Blue Devils of Dreher (1-0). Blythewood fell 48-37 despite outscoring Dreher 16-12 in the fourth quarter.
After the game Blythewood head coach Steve Inabinet said he was proud of his team’s effort even though he thought they were outmatched.
“We put out one hundred percent effort and I couldn’t have asked for more,” he said. “They played to their skill level and that’s all that I can ask for.”
Dreher has two Division 1 signees and Inabinet said turnovers and Dreher’s offensive rebounding played a big factor in the loss.
“(Dreher) was just strong and had a definite size advantage on us,” he said.
At the end of the first half the Lady Blue Devils led 10-9, but used a 12-4 run at the end of the second quarter to lead 22-13 at the half.
Dreher’s Jalen Murray led all scorers with 18 points. She shot nine of 12 from the floor. The Lady Bengals were paced by Lauren Harley’s 12 points off six of 13 shooting. Harley also grabbed a team high six rebounds.
Blythewood plays at Dutch Fork Friday and then at Dreher Saturday night. Inabinet said that the next two games will be a measuring stick for his team.
“We hope to beat people up the floor and then execute our offense,” he said.
Bengals
The Blythewood Bengals basketball team (2-2) opened up their home schedule against the Blue Devils of Dreher Tuesday night. The Bengals never led in the game and fell 70-59.
The Blue Devils scored the first six points of the game unanswered and led 21-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Blythewood started the second quarter on an 8-3 run to pull to within two points, but that was as close as they would get. Dreher outscored the Bengals 11-1 to close out the half and led 33-23 at halftime.
The Bengals closed the gap to 10 points halfway through the fourth quarter, but relentless pressure from the Dreher’s defense forced Blythewood to foul. The Blue Devils hit seven free throws down the stretch to put the game out of reach.
Both Trae Churn and Eli Love cracked double digits for Blythewood, with 17 and 11 respectively. Cameron Warmack added nine points as well.
The Bengals play at Dutch Fork Friday (Dec. 6) and then face Dreher for the second time in four days at Dreher Saturday night.