Warriors basketball teams win
Published 10:22 pm Wednesday, December 7, 2016
- The Bulldogs’ Rontre Pope prepares to shoot at the free throw line. King’s Fork lost in overtime to Western Branch this week.
Nansemond River High School’s basketball teams both picked up wins against Hickory High School on Tuesday night.
The Lady Warriors moved to 3-0 after defeating Hickory 60-23. Cassidy Simmons led the way with 16 points, four assists, eight rebounds and nine steals.
The boys’ basketball team picked up its first win of the season and is now 1-3. NRHS defeated Hickory 71-50. After the first quarter, the Warriors were down 16-10. However, they outscored their opponents 20-15 in the second quarter with pressure defense, which forced seven turnovers. Sophomore Jeremiah Lewis came off the bench for nine points and five rebounds.
The Warriors turned the pressure back up in the third quarter as they held the Hawks to five points on 2-of-10 shooting and caused another eight turnovers. Lewis added seven more points, and freshman Tyler Chatman had eight points on 3-of-4 shooting. The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth affair, as the Warriors played a multitude of players. Nine Warriors scored in the quarter.
“We finally were able to create easy baskets with our defense as we forced 22 turnovers in the game and we capitalized on most of them,” Warriors coach Ed Young said. “Plus Jeremiah Lewis played a heck of a game with a career high.”
Lewis finished with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting for the Warriors to go along with 12 rebounds and two blocks off of the bench. Freshman Tyler Chatman had a career-high 11 points in his first varsity start. Point guard Josh Hale added 11 points, four assists and four steals.
“It felt good to pick up that first win,” Hale said. “Everyone was able to play, and we had fun together, which is most important. This win will definitely provide some momentum for us.”
“It felt good to get that first win of the season,” Young added.
The Warriors did their best job to date on the glass by finally out-rebounding their opponents 38-28, while shooting the ball better, at 45 percent.
“This win gave us some confidence,” Hale said. “We know what works for us and we will continue to fix the minor problems we have. For some of the younger guys, this was their first varsity win. They know what it takes and how fun it is.”
Next, both basketball teams play Indian River High School on Friday. The boys’ team will be at home, while the girls will be at Indian River. Both games start at 7:15 p.m.