BLYTHEWOOD – Blythewood’s girls’ basketball team hit the floor running and never looked back on Westwood Friday night in the Bengals’ 62-38 home victory.
Chase Thomas scored 25 points to lead Blythewood (20-1, 7-0 Region 5-5A), with Hayley Hightower following up with 17 points.
The Bengals got off to a 9-2 lead in the first four minutes, but the Redhawks (9-13, 3-5) rallied to get within one point with a minute to go. Up 13-12, Blythewood closed out the first period with foul shots from Hightower and Thomas for a 17-12 lead at quarter’s end.
Blythewood continued that run, scoring the first 14 points of the second to take a 31-12 lead.
“We start slow all the time, but we came out strong in the second quarter,” Blythewood head coach Emily McElveen said. “If only I could get them to start a game like that. Momentum’s a huge thing, and that run in the second quarter gave us a lot of momentum going into the half.”
Westwood cut into that lead with a 10-2 scoring run, but Blythewood’s Kaila Spain scored the last basket of the first half and Blythewood walked into the locker room with a 35-22 lead at intermission.
Blythewood and Westwood battled through the third quarter, but the Redhawks could not overcome the deficit that the Bengals poured on them in the second quarter. Up 49-34 going into the fourth quarter, Blythewood outscored Westwood 13-5 to close out the win.
“We’re starting to play together as a unit, no playing selfish,” McElveen said about the team. “It can be hard when you’ve got a lot of scorers on the floor, but we’re playing good as a team, moving the ball, swinging it, finding the open person.”
Blythewood Spring Valley (11-7, 3-3) 80-61 and Westwood fell 71-64 in overtime to Ridge View (13-7, 6-0) Tuesday night.
The Bengals play host to Lugoff-Elgin (13-7, 4-3) and Westwood takes on Spring Valley Friday.
Westwood – 12-10-12-4 — 38
Blythewood – 17-18-14-13 — 62
W – Aniya Britt 13, Lyric Rogers 10, Alexander 4, Heath 4, Davis 3, Cummings 2, Green 2. B – Chase Thomas 25, Hayley Hightower 19, Williams 7, Spain 4, M. Thomas 2, Guerrero 2, Anderson 3.