Nation Ford girls wilt Yellow Jackets in second half

Nation Ford girls’ basketball dropped Fort Mill in the second half of their weather-delayed rivalry contest Monday night. The Falcons trailed by a point at the break but blew past the Yellow Jackets in the second 16 minutes to pick up the 39-23 win.

“I told my coaches if we were to get a five-point lead, I thought that would be enough for us to relax a little more and for us to be more confident and attack,” said Nation Ford coach Tamara Washington.

Turning point

Nation Ford doubled its entire first half output in a 12-point third quarter that saw the Falcons take the lead. The hosts trailed 12-11 at the break but quickly built a seven-point lead thanks to an 8-0 run. Emma Starkey hit consecutive 3’s and Sydney Adams’ bucket put the Falcons in front 19-12 before the Yellow Jackets had scored a second half point.

Critical

Nation Ford hit some 3-pointers to loosen up a packed-in Fort Mill defense built around the shot-blocking of long-limbed freshman Amiah Lindsay.

“They were collapsing and Amiah (Lindsay) was doing a great job defensively,” said Washington. “I really asked my guards to step it up in the second half hitting some outside shots, therefore spreading their defense out so we could go back into our posts inside.”

Equally critical for Nation Ford was Fort Mill missing a slew of easy shots at the other end.

“Our biggest thing this year, we’re offensively challenged,” said Fort Mill coach Brett Childers. “We get good shots, we get good looks, and we didn’t turn the ball over tonight. We just were cold.”

Star contributions

Starkey finished with 11 points for the Falcons, with her 3’s early in the second half game-changers.

“You’ve got to make shooters drive and we didn’t do that in the second half,” said Childers. “We were a little slow on the rotations.”

On deck

Nation Ford hosts Clover on Tuesday night, while Fort Mill hosts York.

Box score

Nation Ford 39, Fort Mill 23

Fort Mill: Kimber Haley 2, Meredith Christopher 5, Annika Ford 3, Ericca Chappell 4, Piper Starnes 2, Sharae Redmond 2, Amiah Lindsay 5. Nation Ford: Emma Starkey 11, Ellona Moulds 4, Haley Fulton 12, Sydney Adams 6, Sami Tuipulotu 4, Courtney Wells 2.

Team fouls: Fort Mill 11; Nation Ford 15

Foul-shooting: Fort Mill 6-16; Nation Ford 2-6

3-pointers: Fort Mill 1 (Christopher 1); Nation Ford 5 (Starkey 3, Fulton 2)

Records: Fort Mill 5-10, 2-5 Region 3-4A; Nation Ford 5-11, 3-3

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 12:03 AM with the headline "Nation Ford girls wilt Yellow Jackets in second half."