PLANTERSVILLE — Dallas County trailed Calhoun 16-13 at the end of the first quarter. Back-to-back layups by Henry Baker in the second quarter capped off a 10-0 run that put Dallas County in front 23-16, and the Hornets only kept rolling from there.

The Dallas County Hornets (4-4) stormed past the Calhoun Tigers 56-29 Tuesday in Plantersville. Andre Hall led the way with 15 points, and Kareem Ross finished Calhoun off with eight fourth quarter points.

Dallas County head coach Willie Moore said the Hornets made a purposeful attempt to slow the game down in the second quarter because his team was playing out of control early on.

“As the game progressed, we started making some easy baskets, so it paid off for us,” Moore said.

Hall scored the first four points of the game, but Calhoun took a 9-6 lead. It didn’t take long for Hall to respond, as he drained a 3-pointer to tie it. Trailing 16-11 late in the first quarter, Quincy Parker scored on a layup to lower the deficit to three going into the second quarter.

Jaydon Buford opened up a 10-0 run to start the second quarter with a 3-pointer. Floyd Crusoe ended the half with a turnaround jumper to take a 26-17 lead into halftime.

Hall opened scoring in the second half with a layup. Allen Goodwin got involved with another layup to extend the Dallas County lead to 30-17.

Buford scored twice in the quarter, the latter of which gave the Hornets a 35-21 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Ross didn’t score until the fourth quarter, but he more than made up for it in the final minutes. With four two-point shots, he almost singlehandedly sealed the victory for Dallas County.

“He had a really good fourth quarter,” Moore said. “He was playing with foul trouble early in the game, so he really couldn’t get on the floor and I thought as he was able to get some touches in the paint … it lends us to get some easy baskets.”

 

Calhoun 54, Dallas 

County 26 (girls)

The Dallas County Hornets (0-6) fell behind early and never could recover against the Calhoun Tigers Tuesday in Plantersville in a 54-26 defeat.

“We’ve still got a lot of things to correct, still got a lot of things to improve on,” said Dallas County head coach Charles Thompson.

Trailing 20-7 late in the second quarter, Jorge’Undra Dower knocked down a two-point jump shot to narrow the deficit to 11. With 2:45 left in the second quarter, Kimmesha Jackson stole the ball and scored on a fastbreak layup.

Calhoun ended the first half on a 7-2 run to take a 29-13 lead at halftime.

The Tigers extended their lead to 37-13 before Christa Biggins hit a layup for Dallas County to end a long scoring drought. With 2:42 remaining in the third quarter, Ke’onna Pope knocked down a 3-pointer. Nikhya Tabb muscled her way through for a rebound and put-back layup to cut the Calhoun lead to 43-20. As time expired in the third quarter, Trinity Carter sunk a 3-pointer and Dallas County trailed by 20 going into the fourth quarter.

While the Hornets were unable to mount a miraculous fourth quarter comeback, they were diving all over the floor and fighting for the ball however they could even when the game seemed out of reach.

“I think our half court defense was solid,” Thompson said. “We could definitely do a better job boxing out, but overall we didn’t give up. We continued to fight and get down the court.”

Dallas County’s boys and girls are at Wilcox Central Friday at 5 p.m.