By Robert Hudson

The Selma Times-Journal

 

The Dallas County Hornets battled back and forth with the Booker T. Washington Magnet School Yellow Jackets early, but would eventually pull away in an 86-61 rout Friday.

While the Hornets (6-0) cruised to victory, their head coach Willie Moore said there are still some errors to correct.

“We stopped turning the ball over,” Moore said. “We got into foul trouble early in the game, we took some quick shots. Our kids, when we see zone, we think it’s an opportunity to shoot threes, and we need to do a better job working the ball in the inside than we did.”

In a close matchup, the Hornets would take a slim 34-31 lead into the half.

With the score standing at 39-37 with 5:50 left in the third quarter, the Hornets would start to pull away, as a Markell Harris three would put Dallas County up 42-37 and spark a 20-6 Hornets run that put the Hornets up 60-44 with 1:38 left in the quarter.

The final quarter saw much of the same, as the Hornets outscored the Yellow Jackets 22-10.

Moore said his team was able to make some adjustments to overcome its early struggles and is still looking for its identity.

“This year’s team is a lot different from last, and we’ve got to make some adjustments as far as putting the right personnel out there on the floor at critical times,” Moore said. “We were fine as long as they were playing us man to man, but they didn’t play that much. We sort of shot ourselves in the foot taking quick shots and bad shots.”

Harris led the Hornets with 26 points, while William Lee added 10 points for Dallas County.

The Hornets will take the floor again Friday, Dec. 16 at rival Southside, with games starting at 5 p.m.

 

Lady Hornets win

The Dallas County Lady Hornets would take the lead going into halftime and never relinquish it, as they defeated the Booker T. Washington Magnet School Yellow Jackets 38-29 Friday.

Charles Thompson, head coach of the Lady Hornets (4-2), said his team played tough defense in order to hold off the Yellow Jackets.

“We always rely on our defense,” Thompson said. “We made some pretty good shots coming down the stretch, but I think defense was the key to victory.”

The Hornets would hold a six point lead late in the final period, but Cedreanna Stafford would score in the paint for the Jackets to make it a 31-27 game with 4:10 left to play.

But the Lady Hornets would answer back after a defensive stop, as Karissa Smiley scored down low to extend Dallas County’s lead to 33-27.

After Smiley sunk a pair of free throws, the Lady Hornets would force another Yellow Jackets’ turnover and De’Undria Boggs would score under the basket to make the score 37-27 with 1:54 remaining.

Boggs led the Lady Hornets with 14 points on the night, while Takeela Mixon added 11 points for Dallas County.

The Lady Hornets will take the floor again Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 5:30 p.m. when they travel to Jemison, followed by a matchup at rival Southside High School on Friday, Dec. 16 at 5 p.m.