Lady Trojans pick up No. 1 seed with win

From staff reports

The Northwestern Lady Trojans locked up a No. 1 seed in the upcoming Class AAAA playoffs with a 57-33 win over Fort Mill on Tuesday night at Northwestern. The Lady Trojans (21-1, 8-1 Region 3-AAAA) finish up the regular season slate Friday at Gaffney. The game has no effect Northwestern’s seeding. The team will have home court advantage through the Upper State game should Northwestern advance that far.

Tuesday’s game reunited the team and prepared them for a long playoff run.

Northwestern was coming off its first loss of the season, a 53-51 buzzer-beater at York on Thursday night. Coach John Bramlett had his own way of handling the defeat.

“I haven’t said a thing about it,’ Bramlett said.

Instead he turned his team’s focus on Fort Mill and trying to stop 3-point threat Jenna White, who got 15 points anyway.

“White may be the most-improved player in our region,” Bramlett said.

Northwestern used an 8-0 run early in the second quarter to nab a 15-point advantage and then ran off 11 of the first 13 points in the second half to put the game out of reach.

Amber Stewart led Northwestern with 16 points and 13 rebounds. She had a turnaround jumper in the first run and capped the second one after following her own miss with an inside bucket.

Northwestern was fired up after the loss. It was senior night and Kelia Shelton returned to the lineup after serving a three-game suspension for violating team rules.

Karl Lyles

NORTHWESTERN 57

FORT MILL 33

Fort Mill — Lisa Nichols 3, Hannah-Kate Christopher 2, Jenna White 15, Haley Bonner 2, Karlie Smith 2, Alexia Grevious 9

Northwestern — Mariah McCoy 2, M.C. Faulkner 6, Xy’resha Isom 10, Amber Stewart 16, Kelia Shelton 14, Savannah Jones 4, Allee Forster 3, Tierra Lewis 2

Fort Mill

—

Northwestern

—

3-pointers — Fort Mill 2 (White 2),Northwestern 5 (Isom 2, Shelton 2, Foster). Team fouls — Fort Mill 5, Northwestern 14. Fouled out — None

Records: Fort Mill 6-15, 2-7 Region 3-AAAA; Northwestern 21-1, 8-1

RIDGE VIEW 60, SOUTH POINTE 52 — In Rock Hill, Alisha Hope and Timisty Nelson combined for 39 points, but it wasn’t enough as South Pointe fell in heartbreaking fashion 60-52 to Ridge View on senior night.

With the win, the Stallions snapped their five-game loosing streak and improve to 11-11 overall and 4-5 in Region 4-AAAA.

South Pointe trailed 29-26 at the half. Hope, who was likely playing her final game in her home gym, keyed a strong third quarter to put the Stallions ahead. She scored all 9 points during a 9-2 run that gave South Pointe a 37-35 edge with 3:15 left.

Mychal Frost

RIDGE VIEW 60

SOUTH POINTE 52

Ridge View — Victoria Marshall 2, Nikia Squire 4, Elizabeth Styles 8, Maya Adams 11, Amoshia Blakeney 2, Nicole Jones 17, Jazzmine Johnson 16.

South Pointe — Timisty Nelson 14, Alisha Hope 25, London Minor 2, Jasmine Wright 4, Chelsea Thomas 2, Jessica Wright 2.