Semoball

TWIN RIVERS DOUBLE BILL: Both Royals squads pull away to sweep Hayti

Twin Rivers point guard Maci Hockersmith puts a layup attempt over Hayti defender Reggie Ford. The game took place at Twin Rivers on Tuesday and the host Lady Royals collected a 30-20 win.
DAR/Mark Sanders

The Twin Rivers Lady Royals overcame poor shooting and second-half foul trouble to defeat the Hayti Lady Indians 30-20 on Tuesday night.

“We’re happy with the win, but we didn’t stand up to the physicality like I thought we would,” said Twin Rivers head coach David Crockett.

Lady Royals forward Hannah Bader put Twin Rivers up 1-0, their only point of the first quarter.

Hayti scored five points in the first quarter, two from Treasure Johnson and a three-pointer from Kanasia Border to end the first quarter with a 5-1 lead.

Reggie Ford led Hayti’s scoring with six points.

Twin Rivers’ Reece Crismon hit two free throws to cut Hayti’s lead to 5-3 with 3:50 left in the half.

Bader scored Twin Rivers’ first field goal of the night with 3:10 left in the second quarter, tying the score at five.

After both teams added a free throw, Bader hit another charity shot, and Anne Mittelstadt made a last-second layup to put the Lady Royals up 9-6 at the half.

The scoring opened up a bit more in the third quarter. Bader hit a field goal and followed it up with another free throw to open up a 12-6 lead for Twin Rivers. She led all scorers with 11 for the game.

“We talked about it in the locker room,” Crockett said. “We finally made a conscious effort to get it down low.”

Twin Rivers extended their lead to 16-7 after baskets from Charlie Johnson and Amelia Douglas, but Hayti then went on an eight-point run, mainly aided by free throws as the Lady Royals put themselves into early foul trouble.

Douglas and Bader combined to score five more points to put Twin Rivers back up 21-16 at the end of the third quarter. Douglas had eight for the game before fouling out.

Douglas opened up the fourth quarter with a quick basket, but then both teams reverted to first-quarter form, missing ill-considered outside shots and committing unforced turnovers at both ends of the hardwood.

Twin Rivers then went on a seven-point run to open up a 28-16 lead with 2:28 left in the game, aided in large part by dominant rebounding on defense and Hayti’s failing to capitalize on multiple foul shots.

After the Lady Royals took care of business, the Twin Rivers boys (4-3) beat the visiting Hayti Indians (1-4) 79-69 in the last game of a tripleheader and the contest started at full speed and never let up.

A fast and furious start saw both teams play aggressively at both ends of the court.

The first quarter was a draw at 18-all.

Twin Rivers senior Colton Hargraves led all scorers with 38 points.

Hayti’s leading scorers were Briley Smart with 18 and Keion Hamilton with 13.

Both teams worked hard in the second quarter to penetrate the lane, but each was equally tenacious in denying the opponent an easy layup.

After a late Royals run paced by Jake Hester, the halftime saw Twin Rivers go into the lockers up 38-32.

Thanks to big baskets from Hayti’s Smart and Hamilton, Hayti pulled within 54-53 after the third quarter.

Twin Rivers built a nine-point lead with four minutes remaining thanks to Hargraves, who scored or assisted on most of their offense, which turned out to be the difference in the end as the Royals pulled away for the victory.

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