By HARVEY SIMPSON
Dispatch Sports Editor
PINEHURST — Getting a break from the pressures of the Region 3-A GISA portion of their schedules, Fullington Academy’s basketball teams made Friday’s Senior Night observation a happy one by beating non-region foe Sherwood.
Coach Mike Cason’s Lady Trojans opened the evening with a runaway 54-37 win and coach Van Bailey’s Trojans closed out the night with a hard-earned 63-57 triumph. The pair of victories came in the school’s regular season finales.
Fullington will now host its region tournament that starts Tuesday with a pair of play-in games not involving either of its teams. On Thursday, the 18-6 Lady Trojans play Crisp Academy at 4 and the 18-2 Trojans meet Crisp or Randolph Southern at 8:30. Consolation and tilts are set for Friday starting at 4 p.m.
Lady Trojans 54, Lady Eagles 37
In overcoming a size disadvantage, the Lady Trojans turned in a good job of sagging weak side defense that helped them hold their own on the boards while winning the scoring battle in all four quarters of play.
Limiting its turnovers to just eight also helped Fullington move out front 14-9, 29-21 and 46-30 at the period breaks.
“I’m glad we could bounce back and get the win after our key loss to Terrell on Tuesday,” Cason said in reference to a 49-43 defeat that cost the Fullington girls top seed for the region tournament. “It was also good to win on a night we honored our two seniors — Rebekah Barron and Anna Burton — whom we’re really going to miss next year.”
Ashlyn Reed sank 13 points, Taylor Faircloth flipped in 12 and Courtney Coogle added 11 plus the same number of rebounds for the winners. Emilee Cook paced the losers with 14.
Score by Quarters
Sherwood 9-12-9-7 — 37
Fullington 14-15-17-8 — 54
Scoring
Sherwood (47) — Kaylee Dixon 8, Princess Williams 5, Megan Barker 2, Maggie O’conner 5, Emilee Cook 14, Amy Lincoln 3.
Team totals: field goals 15; free throws 7 of 15 (46.7%); fouls 14; 3-pointers — none; fouled out — none.
Fullington (54) — Bailey Thompson, Brittany Bailey 4, Anna Burton 4, Taylor Faircloth 12, Ashley Langston 6, Julia Peavy 4, Courtney Coogle 11, Ashlyn Reed 13.
T eam totals: field goals 20; free throws 13 of 21 (61.9%); fouls 15; 3-pointers — Reed 1; fouled out — none.
Trojans 63, Eagles 57
Having already shown they were the best in their region, the Trojans also proved to be better on this particular night than the Region 1-AA GISA regular season champion Eagles.
Only in the third quarter that began with them leading 34-25 and ended with them on top 44-40 did the Fullington boys get outscored in what Bailey described as “a physical, quick-paced game in which both teams played well defensively.
“They went man-for-man all night while we kept switching between a couple of different zone defenses trying to slow down (Sherwood leading score Wesley) Pittman who was killing us from everywhere with his 3’s (6 of them).
“In the end, our ball control and patience on offense were keys that enabled us to play our game instead of theirs. Facing a very quick and athletic team like theirs was a great way to help prepare us for the kind of talent we’re going to be seeing in the tournaments.
“I’m glad, too, that our three seniors (Stephen Simmons, Blake Thompson and Zach McNeese) all played well while helping us post a 14th straight win and improve our record to 18-2 in one of the best boys basketball seasons our school has had in a while.”
Simmons finished with 22 points and 18 rebounds for Fullington, which is gunning for the school’s first 20-win season since the 2005-06 team went 20-8 and the 2006-07 finished 20-7. Those marks are the school’s best in the last 12 years.
David Faircloth, 12, and Brandon Bailey, 11, also reached double digits for the winners while Pittman wound up with a game-high 24 for the losers.
Score by Quarters
Sherwood 8-17-15-17 — 57
Fullington 10-24-10-19 — 63
Scoring
Sherwood (57) — Wesley Pittman 24, Terrence Burnette 2, John Schramm 2, Brannon Anthony 13, Alex Harrell 8, Gary Holloway 6, Pete McSwain 2.
Team totals: field goals 22; free throws 6 of 13 (46.2%); fouls 18; 3-pointers — Pittman 6, Anthony 1; fouled out — none.
Fullington (63) — Blake Thompson 7, Zach McNeese 4, Brandon Bailey 11, John Roger Harvey 3, Cory Nixon 2, David Faircloth 12, Adam Everidge 2, Stephen Simmons 22.
Team totals: field goals 23; free throws 14 of 22 (63.6%); fouls 11; 3-pointers — Bailey 2, Harvey 1; fouled out — none.
