By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
They gave the kind of defensive performance W.S. Neal Middle School Blue Eagles basketball coach Ray Patterson expected, but it was the offensive output in Tuesday's season-opening 39-24 road win over the Carver Blackcats that exceeded his expectations.
It took a quarter for W.S. Neal's offense to heat up. The Blue Eagles managed only a pair of buckets by Kenny Kiser and Cordarius Day in the opening frame, but still managed to build a 4-1 lead.
Percy Travis gave the Blue Eagles an offensive spark in the second quarter, as he nailed a three-pointer, scored off an offensive rebound and turned a steal into a layup. Those three field goals plus another basket by Kiser enabled W.S. Neal to stretch its lead to 13-5 by halftime.
Carver started to get its offense going in the third quarter, as five different players scored. Two field goals and a free throw by Kiser helped the Blue Eagles maintain most of their halftime edge, as they took a 24-17 lead into the fourth quarter.
Carver cut that gap to only 24-19 in the opening moments of the fourth quarter after a field goal by Dabney Langhorne.
W.S. Neal delivered the decisive blow when Ashton Elliott, Monterius Culliver, DeParrish Campbell and Travis hit consecutive field goals and widened the advantage to 32-19 with less than three minutes left.
Kiser led the Blue Eagles with 15 points, while Travis added 11.
The season debut did not go as well for the W.S. Neal girls, as they dropped a 15-9 decision to Carver.
Although the Lady Blue Eagles did not score until the halfway point of the third quarter, they still had an opportunity to pull out a victory.
Carver was only able to damage a 9-0 lead during W.S. Neal's 15-minute scoreless drought to start the game.
Once the Lady Blue Eagles were able to dent the scoreboard, they got two buckets from Jakeshia Hunter and Erin Hunter to close out the third quarter down just 9-8.
W.S. Neal's rally ended there, as Carver's defense did not allow another field goal the rest of the way. The Lady Blackcats secured their win with buckets by Shaniqua Jones and Lanecia Gomez down the stretch.
Both teams will be back in action Monday at Brewton. Those contests, which start with the girls game at 4 p.m., will be played at T.R. Miller High School.
Girls
W.S. Neal 0 0 8 1 – 9
Carver 2 4 3 6 - 15
W.S. NEAL- J. Hunter 5, E. Hunter 4
W.S. Neal 4 9 11 15 - 39
Carver 1 4 12 7 - 24
W.S. NEAL- Kiser 15, Travis 11, Culliver 6, Elliott 4, Day 2, Burnett 1