East Webster cruises to wins
MABEN – East Webster had a leg up on the Nanih Waiya Warriors on Tuesday.
Just three days earlier, several of the Warriors were playing a football state championship game. The Wolverines have been playing basketball for several weeks and coach Michael Seger's team took advantage of the lack of conditioning on the other benches.
The Wolverines trailed 7-3 early in the first quarter before kicking it into high gear. For the rest of the half, East Webster outscored the visiting Warriors 47-8 as it cruised to a 72-37 victory.
“I thought we did a poor job early guarding them," Seger said. "We made some adjustments and you look up and they had only scored two points in 8 minutes. I think they're athletic and will be really good. We thankfully got some steals and hit some open shots.”
The Wolverines had three players notch double digits scoring led by Art Thompson who dropped 17 points with a 4-for-5 shooting night from 3-point range.
The Wolverines hit 11 3-pointers as a team.
“We haven't been shooting as well as we thought we might," Seger said. "There's no reason we shouldn't be one of the 3-point leaders in north Mississippi when we have the guys we have.. We've got to realize that the mindset has to be different than it was two years ago.”
After falling behind 7-3, East Webster finished the first quarter with a 22-4 run spearheaded by defensive pressure. Carrin Townsend and Kinton Jones were key in the backcourt to lead the team out in transition while Brand and Ginn knocked down open shots.
The Wolverines led 50-15 at the half and 66-26 after three quarters of play.
Along with Thompson's doubledigit performance, Charlie Brand and Jacob Ginn each had 14 points. Brand spent much of his time finding Ginn, Thompson and others on the perimeter for open looks. The addition of Ginn on the team this season has been something that has made the whole team better, even Brand at point guard.
“It takes so much pressure off of me,” Brand said. “If it's not there for me, someone else is there that can knock down a shot. They get in here and work hard every day.”
East Webster (4-2) hosts the East Webster Shootout starting Thursday night at approximately 8 p.m. The Wolverines play French Camp in the final game of the day.
It wasn't until 6 minutes in the third quarter that the Nanih Waiya Lady Warriors made their first field goal.
East Webster led 26-1 at halftime as it suffocated the visitors for a game-one win in the doubleheader.
Kadasha Bryant led the way for East Webster on both sides of the floor as she was persistent in the full court defensive press and was the only double-figure scorer in the game with 10 points.
“Defensively, I thought we were great,” Seger said. “I thought Kadasha did a great job. Alexis Bell is starting to become a little more of the offensive threat we thought she would be coming off of the ACL injury.”
The Lady Wolverines improved to 3-4 and will play French Camp on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.