While the W.S. Neal B-team and girls basketball teams continued their losing streaks Friday night at home against Excel, the Eagle varsity team earned their second win in a row.
The B-team Eagles lost 46-39 to fall to 0-5 while the Lady Eagles lost 45-35 to drop to 1-5 overall. The varsity Eagles defeated Excel 60-53 in double overtime to improve to 3-6.
W.S. Neal will be back in action Friday on the road against Monroe County starting at 4:30 p.m.

Excel 46, W.S. Neal B-team 39
The W.S. Neal B-team could not overcome a 16-3 first quarter deficit against Excel Friday night at home as they remained winless after a 46-39 loss to the Panthers.
Following the 13-point deficit after the first quarter, the Eagles responded in the second quarter with a 9-4 advantage to cut the lead to 20-12 at the half.
In the third quarter, the Panthers used a 7-0 run to outscore the Eagles 13-11 and take a 33-23 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, W.S. Neal would hold a 16-13 advantage but would lose by seven points.
W.S. Neal shot 7-for-15 from the free throw line in the loss while Excel was 1-for-11.
Trevor Burns led W.S. Neal with 14 points and was followed by Zack Haveard with 12 points. Nick Straiton followed with seven points and Devin Stallworth and Terrell Smith both had three points in the loss.

Excel 45, W.S. Neal Lady Eagles 35
Although they trailed big early, but came back and lost by 10, the W.S. Neal Lady Eagles dropped to 1-5 with a 45-35 loss to Excel Friday.
Excel started the game on an 11-0 run and held the Lady Eagles scoreless until the 2:05 mark in the first quarter.
They would go on and take a 13-2 first quarter lead and lead 23-5 with 2:36 left before the half.
W.S. Neal would end the quarter on a 9-0 run to trail 23-14 at the half.
In the third quarter, Excel would outscore the Lady Eagles 16-10 to hold a 39-24 lead heading into the fourth.
In the fourth, W.S. Neal would end the game on an 11-6 run, but lose to make their losing streak to five after winning the first game of the season.
“I was proud of the girls for not giving up and coming back,” W.S. Neal Lady Eagle head coach John Saxon said. “We only scored in the first quarter and I think that was the frame of mind they were in. My philosophy is that I am going to try and play everybody, every game. I didn’t do that in our last game because of the closeness of it and if I make a mistake, I am going to try and make it right so I started the three young ladies who I did not play against J.U. Blacksher.”
Saxon said he thinks that upset the tempo of the first group of players.
“By the time we looked up and got in our right mindset, they have a 15 or 16-point lead,” Saxon said. “We fought back and made some changes and we came back and got in foul trouble. We had one with four fouls and one foul out. I then had to go to my bench and my bench was just not strong enough. We were out tonight with our 6-1 post Jasmine Crook, but in three or four games, we are going to get better and get a better rotation.”
Both teams would shoot a combined 15-for-45 from the free throw line with W.S. Neal shooting 8-for-23 and Excel 7-for-22.
Keyvonnia Kyles led W.S. Neal with 23 points and Megan Andrews and Tiana Smith having four each.
Angelique Askew and Daisha Flowers both had two points in the loss.

WSN Eagles 60, Excel 53, 2 OT
The number two was a key number for the W.S. Neal Eagles Friday night at home against Excel as they played a two overtime game against the Panthers to win 60-53 for their second straight win of the season.
“That was very exciting,” W.S. Neal head coach Derek Roberts said. “The guys played real well and hard. I had one step up really big for us tonight and hit a big three for us. I love the performance and I love the work. I think and I hope we are turning things around now. Hopefully we will be ready for Monroeville in our first area game on Friday.”
In the final seconds of regulation, W.S. Neal held a 40-38 lead with 1:40 left in the game only to see Excel score with 13 seconds left to tie the game at 40-40 to send the game into overtime.
In the first overtime period, W.S. Neal built a 46-42 lead with 2:16 left in the period but Excel would take a 47-46 lead with 1:06 left and a 49-46 lead with 38 seconds left.
From there, W.S. Neal cut the lead to 49-48 with 30 seconds left and after Excel took a 50-48 lead with 22 seconds left, Dalton Evans made two free throws for the Eagles to tie the game at 50-50 and force a second overtime.
In the second period, W.S. Neal would outscore the Panthers 10-3 in the period to get the win by seven.
W.S. Neal led 12-9 after the first period and 20-19 at the half after Excel outscored them 10-8 in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Excel would tie the game at 31-31 as they held a 12-11 advantage in the quarter. In the fourth both teams scored nine points and in the first overtime period, both teams scored 10 points.
Jalen Harrod led W.S. Neal with 18 points and Kenny Kiser had 13 followed by Josiah Nettle’s 10.
Evans had eight points and Montrel Banks had five points. Hudson Brown added four points in the win for the Eagles and Donovan Millican chipped in two points.
The two teams were a combined 20-for-42 from the free throw line with W.S. Neal shooting 14-for-28 and Excel 6-for-14.