By Staff
from staff reports
Both the W.S. Neal Eagle and Lady Eagle basketball teams remained winless in the area Friday night with losses to the Bulldogs of UMS-Wright.                                                                                     
The varsity Eagles lost 67-50 to UMS-Wright while the Lady Eagles of East Brewton lost 60-31. In other action Friday night in Mobile, the W.S. Neal B-team Eagles lost to the Bulldogs 59-27.
W.S. Neal was set to be back in action on Tuesday when they traveled to Jackson for another area contest.
The Eagles will end their area schedule Friday back in Mobile when they take on the B.C. Rain Red Raiders at 4:30 p.m.                                                                                               
The Eagles will return home on Tuesday, Jan. 26, when they take on the J.U. Blacksher Bulldogs at 4:30 p.m. in East Brewton.
UMS-Wright 67,
W.S. Neal Eagles 50                                                                                   
In a Friday night area game in Mobile, W.S. Neal’s varsity Eagle basketball team fell to the No. 6-ranked UMS-Wright Bulldogs 67-50.                                                                                                                 
The loss dropped W.S. Neal to 12-8 overall and to 0-4 in the class 4A Area 1 basketball standings.
In the game Friday, a bad first half for the Eagles was the difference in the game.                                                                                                                                              The Eagles trailed by six points after the first quarter of play as they were outscored 19-13.
In the second half, the Eagles matched the Bulldogs evenly but the deficit in the first half was the difference in the game.
W.S. Neal and UMS-Wright both scored 13 points in the third quarter as the Bulldogs held a 19-point lead, 55-36, heading into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, W.S. Neal was able to outscore the Bulldogs 14-12 in the quarter but suffered the defeat.
Bob Elliott led W.S. Neal with 22 points in the loss against UMS-Wright and was the lone Eagle in double figures. 
Following Elliott in scoring for W.S. Neal was Tra Dixon with eight points, T.J. Davis and Sam Ewing both with six points, Ashton Elliott with four points, and Rashad Crook and Monterrius Culliver both had two points each in the loss.
UMS-Wright 60,
W.S. Neal Lady Eagles 31                                                                         
The second-ranked Lady Bulldogs of UMS-Wright handed the W.S. Neal Lady Eagles a 60-31 loss Friday night in Mobile to drop the Lady Eagles to 8-9 overall and to 0-4 in the class 4A Area 1 standings.
The Lady Bulldogs showed why they were ranked No. 2 in the state in class 4A as they opened the first quarter with a 24-6 lead over W.S. Neal.
W.S. Neal was able to cut into the lead by one point in the second quarter as they outscored UMS-Wright 11-10 in the quarter, but still trailed 34-17 at halftime.
Just like in the first quarter to start the game, the Lady Bulldogs outscored W.S. Neal 18-5 to open the second half and hold a 52-22 lead after three quarters of play.
W.S. Neal would later hold a 9-8 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough as UMS-Wright eased their way to a 60-31 win.
Frieda Folmar led the Lady Eagles in the loss with eight points followed by Keyvonnia Kyles who tallied seven points.
Briana Hawthorne chipped in six points and Angelique Askew added four points in the loss.
Arianna Jones, LaTeesha Day, and Tiana Smith all had two points each for the W.S. Neal Lady Eagles.
UMS-Wright 59,
W.S. Neal B-team 27
The UMS-Wright B-team Bulldogs jumped out to a big lead early against the B-team Eagles of W.S. Neal and drop the Eagles to 4-10 overall with a 59-27, 32-point win.
The loss was the fifth straight loss for the Eagles.
W.S. Neal trailed 18-2 in the first quarter and following a 23-7 second quarter in favor of UMS-Wright, trailed 41-9 at halftime.
In the second half, UMS-Wright held a 16-14 lead in the third quarter to extend their overall lead to 57-23.
W.S. Neal scored four points in the fourth quarter to UMS-Wright’s two points, but it was well short of the points put up by UMS-Wright as they suffered the loss.
Marquese Banks led the Eagles in the loss with 10 points and was followed by Jalen Harrod with five points, Damion Willams with four, Dalton Evans and Donovan Millican with three points each.
Jaleel Elliott rounded out the B-team Eagle scorers with two points.