By Jayden Berkin, Sports Reporter
The UNC Pembroke’s women’s basketball team defeated the Lees-McRae Bobcats Saturday aafternoon at home. After a competive first half between both sides the Braves strung together a few key runs to pull away for the 62-45 win. With the win the Braves improve to 12-5 overall and 7-1 in Conference Carolinas
The first quarter showed both teams getting off to a slow, but competitive start, with the Braves leading the Bobcats 13-11 by the end of the first quarter. The Braves started the second quarter with a 6-0 run and continued that type of dominance throughout the quarter to head into the half leading 25-19.
The tale of two halves is something you hear a lot in basketball, and this game was a prime example of that. The Braves rallied together in the opening minutes of the third quarter to go on a 9-2 run, putting them up 34-21 with six minutes remaing in the third. The Bobcats answered back with a 15-9 run to close out the third quarter but the Braves still led 43-36. The Braves came out in the fourth quater looking to close out this game early in the 4th quarter, and that is exactly what they did, ending the game with a 19-9 run to seal the win at home.
“I think we have been consistent If you look, the only game we lost was a one point loss against a good team (Belmont Abbey) on the road where we only scored 36 points. I tell the team all the time, if we really played defense and rebounded the ball like we are capable of, even if we’re playing bad offensively, we’ll have a fighting chance but if we play well offensively we’re going to be running people out of the gym because we have enough offensive weapons”, UNCP women’s basketball coach John Haskins said.
Kalaya Hall led the team in scoring tonight with 21 points, followed by Courtney Smith with 15 and Hannah Russell with 12. Russell led the team in rebounds with 13, while Kelci Adams, Smith and Hall each had four rebounds on the afternoon. Hall also led the team in assists tonight with four, followed by Zaria Clark, Aniah McManus and Alcenia Purnell, who all had two assists on the night.
Men’s Basketball
The UNC Pembroke men’s basketball team fell Saturday evening against the Lees-McRae Bobcats Saturday night at home. After both sides took each other to the limit for 40 minutes the Braves fell short of a last minute attempt as the Bobcats took this one 77-73.
“I mean give all credit to Lees-McRae, I mean they really played well and shot the ball as good or better than any team that we’ve played this year. I told the guys in the locker room, I’ve been talking about it for three weeks and it hasn’t changed or we have too many turnovers and too many guys not making the play for their teammate. If you can’t take care of the basketball then you put yourself in that positiion and anybody can get hot and thats what they (Lees-McRae) did. It was Lees-McRae’s night and hats off to them,” UNCP men’s basketball coach Drew Richards said.
With the loss the Braves had their 11-game winning streak snaped and fall to 13-4 on the season and 7-1 in the conference. The Bobcats took the early advantage after trading basket for basket to take the 16-11 lead. The Braves managed to cut the lead down to three before a 7-0 run sparked the Bobcats offense pushing their lead out to 23-13. The Braves capitalized off a 13-5 run to cut the Bobcats lead down to 28-26 before Lees-McRae closed things out to lead 36-29 at the half.
The Braves came out swinging to start the second half something that they seem to find great success in. A 10-2 run helped give them a 39-38 advantage and held the lead for majority of the second half before the Bobcats made another run and took the 74-71 lead with less than and few key free throws made it 74-73 before a three pointer by the Bobcats iced things and a last second shot fell short as the Bobcats knocked off the Braves.
Bradlee Haskell led the way for the Braves finishing with 17 points, three rebounds and two assist. Dallas Gardner finished the night with a career high performance finishing with 15 points, six rebounds and one steal off the bench. Nygell Verdier recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds to go along with two assist.
The Braves will make the trip down to Florence, S.C. to battle Francis Marion in the Battle of I-95. Tip-off for the women’s game will be at 5:30 p.m. The men’s game will follow at 7:30 p.m.