Maliyah Lockett (11) battles for the rebound. (Photo/DeAnna Robinson)
BLYTHEWOOD – The Westwood girls’ basketball team fell behind Richland Northeast early and stayed behind for most of Tuesday night’s game.
The Lady Redhawks turned the tables on the Lady Cavaliers in the final 2 minutes of the game, however, to close out a 43-42 victory at the Westwood gym.
“We knew that anything inside of 10 (points), it wasn’t the place we wanted to be, but we still had a chance to win the ballgame,” Westwood girls head coach Gregory Bauldrick said. “We just thought about it like a boxing match. If we could get it to the championship round, we’ve got a shot.”
Westwood never fell far behind, and indeed stuck around for the big finish.
Richland Northeast held a 36-30 lead going into the final quarter, and took a 38-30 lead with Bayleigh Ponds’ basket to open up the quarter.
The Lady Redhawks started moving in for the win with Taylor Britt’s 3-pointer soon afterward. That 3 opened up an 8-2 run that got Westwood to within a basket.
Britt’s steal and layup evened the score at 40 at the 2:42 mark. A minute later, Maliyah Lockett put the Lady Redhawks up when she hit the back end of a pair of free throws.
Shortly afterward, Lockett passed inside to Mya Belton, who laid it up to give Westwood a 43-40 lead with 33 seconds to go.
“We had the matchup that we wanted,” Bauldrick said. “They’ve got a post player who’s got guard-like skills, but once we saw her match up against a true post player (Belton), we knew we had a pretty good shot at getting to the basket for a layup.”
Richland Northeast hoped to tie the game at the buzzer, as Ponds made good on a long shot. But she launched her field goal just short of the 3-point line, and Westwood walked off the court with the 1-point win.
Shanita Godfrey led the Lady Cavaliers with 11 points. Ponds and Dasha Jackson each had 10.
Belton led all scorers with 13 points. Unique Drake added 11 and Maliyah Lockett put up 10.
Westwood plays Fort Mill Friday.
RNE: 13-9-14-6 – 42
WHS: 9-11-9-13 – 43
RNE: Shanita Godfrey 11, Bayleigh Ponds 10, Dasha Jackson 10, Brown 6, Windley 3, Drake 2. WHS: Mya Belton 13, Unique Drake 11, Maliyah Lockett 10, Britt 5, Marshall 4.
