By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
They hope for even bigger things by the time the season ends, but the W.S. Neal Middle School Lady Blue Eagles assured themselves of at least a break campaign Monday when they downed host Ernest Ward 26-18.
Meanwhile the Blue Eagles' chances for a .500 or winning season took a hit Monday when they fell to Ernest Ward 45-37.
W.S. Neal's girls (6-3), who need to win just one of their final three games to clinch a winning season, got off to a bit of a slow start and trailed 6-5 after a quarter.
After that the Lady Blue Eagles took control of the game by outscoring Ernest Ward in each of the following three quarters.
Freida Folmar paced W.S. Neal with 12 points, while Keyvonne Kyles added eight.
Meanwhile the Blue Eagles (4-5) were unable to dig their way out of a first half hole that saw them fall behind 28-16 by halftime. That deficit eventually reached 17 points by the end of the third quarter before a strong fourth quarter rally fell short.
Bob Elliott threw in a team high 12 points to pace W.S. Neal, while Jeremy Alexander added 10.
Both teams, who hosted Carver Tuesday, travel to Flomaton Thursday. Play starts at 12:30 p.m. with the girls game.
Girls
W.S. Neal 5 8 5 8 – 26
Ernest Ward 6 4 2 6 – 18
W.S. NEAL- Folmar 12, Kyles 8, Harris 3, Hawthorne 3
W.S. Neal 5 11 4 17 – 37
Ernest Ward 8 20 9 8 – 45
W.S. NEAL- Elliott 12, Alexander 10, Nicholson 7, Smith 6, Bailey 2