Leesville Road boys, girls sweep Wakefield basketball
Leesville Road’s girls and boys varsity basketball teams picked up Cap-8 Conference wins on Friday night at Wakefield.
While the boys won handily, 85-68, the girls game was a 47-45 thriller.
“We knew Wakefield was a good team and presented us a challenge coming in,” Leesville Road girls coach Ben Daniels said. “We knew that tonight could come down to a single last second shot and it did.”
GIRLS
Wakefield (7-7, 3-3) and Leesville Road (12-3, 4-1) battled thirty-two minutes Friday night but it was the last 3.8 seconds that mattered most.
Lucy Leen made the winning bucket as time expired for the Pride to secure the victory
“That last play was supposed to go to Brittany,” Daniels said. “But she wasn’t open and as she has done all year, she found the open player and Lucy drained the shot.”
Leesville Road’s Brittany Staves led all scorers with 18 points.
“I am just glad I didn’t travel. I am glad we were able to win the game,” Staves said. “We won this game on defense and we have worked all year to make sure that our defense leads to our offense.”
Behind a 15-point performance by Jada Peebles, the Wolverines fought back and took their first lead of the game with 1:27 to play in the fourth quarter. The visiting Pride had led 24-16 lead at the half.
“Those girls in that locker room played way to hard to lose this game,” Wakefield coach Art Wollett said. “We couldn’t pick up the ball in the last 10 seconds and I feel for those kids in there right now.”
BOYS
Wakefield (8-7, 1-5) and Leesville Road (10-5, 3-2) both came out a little sloppy, battling back and forth for the entire first half, with the Pride holding onto a 31-30 margin at the half.
But the second half was a different story.
Seniors Alex Hunter and Jalen Benjamin turned things up a notch and carried Leesville to an easy 85-68 victory.
“Those two are a dynamic pair,” Leesville Road coach Russ Frazier said. “Both of those guys have a high skill set and offer great senior leadership for our club.”
Benjamin led the Pride with 21 points and Hunter added 18.
“I tried to attack the basket all night and play defense first,” Benjamin said. “I feel that steals generate the offense and brings out our intensity.”
Alex Hunter added: “Facilitating the game is what I try to do. I try to lead with my defense and that turns up the pressure on the other team.”
Trae Smith led the Wolverines with 21 points.
“I was happy with our first half performance,” Wakefield coach Garrett Stevens said. “The second half they just took it to us and controlled the game down the stretch.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2017 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Leesville Road boys, girls sweep Wakefield basketball."