BLYTHEWOOD – Two defensive, physical basketball teams clashed twice along Wilson Boulevard over a four-day span. In both games, Blythewood came up a winner over its crosstown rival.
While the Westwood girls took care of business against the Bengals in both games, the Redhawk boys fell 46-45 at Blythewood Friday, then came up short in a 55-49 loss to the Bengals at Westwood Tuesday night.
“They’re a very good team and they’re very well coached,” Zeke Washington said of Westwood. “Our kids just dug in and got the win. Coaches may guide a little bit, but the players win games. I tip my hat to Westwood and our guys, because they played tough.”
Julian Phillips led the way with 19 points. Emanuel Richards had 11.
Blythewood (10-6) made up for zero three-point shots with 22-for-30 performance at the free-throw line. Bengals shooters made seven of eight free throws in the final 30 seconds of play to stave off the Redhawks (11-3).
“We’ve got to take the lessons of the game tonight and continue to get better,” Westwood head coach John Combs said. “all of our games now are region games. So we learn from our mistakes and from the good things we did tonight, and if it makes us better, then I’m good with it.”
Ty Turner led the Redhawks with 12 points. McQuaje McDaniels put up 10.
Blythewood and Westwood battled hard in the first quarter. The Bengals inched to an 11-3 lead before Turner slammed a dunk and added a foul shot close to the buzzer.
From there, Westwood hung close, as both teams did Friday night. Blythewood took a 16-14 lead into the half, and late in the third held a 28-23 lead.
With less than two minutes to go in the third, Bre’on Lewis drained a 3-pointer and Turner followed up with a 3 to give Westwood its first lead of the game, a 29-28 advantage.
Blythewood played more solidly as the game went on. After committing 11 first-half turnovers, the Bengals kept control of the ball and rebuilt its lead well into the fourth quarter.
Blythewood took a 42-34 lead with 2:41 to go, but again Westwood kept close.
Each time a Redhawks would get a basket or hit a pair of foul shots, Blythewood took advantage of Westwood’s foul trouble. The Bengals sent Brice Cohen to the foul stripe four times in the final 30 seconds, and he gave his team seven out of eight points.
Combs considered that foul shots toward the end wouldn’t have made the difference had the team shot better throughout the game.
“We had a lot of good shots, we just didn’t make them,” Combs said. “We gotta do a better job of making shots. We had a lot of easy ones that we didn’t finish.”
In the girls games, Westwood hit all cylinders and rolled to a 62-30 win Friday night, then followed up with a 66-23 victory over the Bengals Tuesday night. Both wins showed head coach Gregory Bauldrick that the team (12-3) is ready for the second half of the season slate.
“It’s the final tune-up for region play,” Bauldrick said. “We did some things Friday that we were proud of, but we wanted to get a fast start tonight (Tuesday). It was a total team effort tonight, and defensively we got into it pretty well.”
Malayziah Etheredge led all scorers with 20 in Tuesday night’s win. Ja’mari Frederick had 18.
Blythewood had just five baskets Tuesday night, with four of them coming from Morgan Kelley, who was Blythewood’s leading scorer. Michaela Boseman’s twelve points led the Bengals (5-10) in Friday’s game.
“We did pretty well but we’re inconsistent,” Blythewood head coach Steve Inabinet said. “We need to be more consistent in our shooting.”
Four Westwood girls scored in double figures Friday night. Frederick had 18 points, Jessica Woods 13, Nyah Leveretter 12, and Malayziah Etheredge had 11.
Blythewood’s boys and girls plays a home non-region game against Lower Richland Saturday
Westwood’s boys and girls open Region 3-4A action Friday at Richland Northeast.
Girls
Friday- Westwood 62, Blythewood 30
WHS – 14-11-14-23 – 62
BHS – 8-8-9-5 – 30
Westwood – Ja’Mari Frederick 18, Jessica Woods 13, Nyah Leveretter 12, Malayziah Etheredge 11, Thompson 6, Scott 2.
Blythewood – Boseman 12, Kelly 8, susanier 5, Gallman 4, Wooten 1.
TUESDAY– Westwood 66, Blythewood 23
Blythewood – 10-3-5-5 – 23
Westwood – 16-16-23-11 – 66
Blythewood – M Kelley 13, Gallman 5, Boseman 3, Jones 1, Cherry 1.
Westwood – Malayziah Etheredge 20, Ja’Mari Frederick 18, Leveretter 8, Woods 8, Thompson 5, Wade 3, Mines 2, Scott 2
Boys
Friday- Blythewood 46, Westwood 45
Westwood – 10-12-13-10 – 45
Blythewood – 7-18-10-11 – 46
Westwood – McQuase McDaniels 10, Bre’on Lewis 10, Turner 7, McCray 8, McBride 5, Peay 3, Green 2.
Blythewood – Emanuel Richards 16, Julian Phillips 10, Wright 8, Williams 6, Cohen 4, Hardy 2.
Tuesday- Blythewood 55, Westwood 49
Blythewood – 11-5-13-26 – 55
Westwood – 6-8-15-20 – 49
Blythewood – Julian Phillips 19, Emanuel Richards 11, Cohen 9, Wright 9, Williams 2, Rogers 2, Knox 2, Hardy 1
Westwood– Ty Turner 12, McQuase McDaniels 10, Lewis 8, Peay 6, Richardson 4, Green 3, Jefferson 3, McBride 3.