Trojans travel to Leland to beat Scorpions

West started the game with a 13-1 run as Morgan Bellamy drove the lane while Emma Pruitt and Hailey Woodard went to the free throw line. Jahyra Mastry capped the run with a 3-point shot.

The Scorpions scored only two points in the first period as Morgan and Mastry made it a 16-2 game before the end of the quarter.

Mastry added six points in the second while Woodard shot 4-4 at the foul line to push the lead to 26-9. But North’s players found their shot in the period, hitting a 3-pointer, a baseline jumper and 5-6 free throws to make it a 29-11 game at the half.

Scoring slowed in the third period, with West holding North to just five points, but the Trojans only put up 11 points to extend the lead to 40-16.

West went to their bench players in the fourth period and still had success on defense as North added just seven points in the quarter, but the Trojans only scored four points, all coming from Saniya Stanley when she split defenders to get under the basket.

Morgan and Mastry led the Trojans in scoring with 11 points each. Woodard finished the game 7-7 from the foul line. Stanley had six points. Pruitt added five points while Brooklyn Coble and Hadiya Woods each added two points.

Topsail 56, West Brunswick 37

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, the Trojans hosted Topsail and kept the Pirates from getting into their defensive turnovers and transition baskets game, through the first half.

While West found it difficult to score in the first period they kept the game to 9-6 with Stanley scoring twice in the lane and Woodard shooting 2-2 at the line.

The second quarter was still a back and forth match of defenses, with West tying the score 14-14 and taking the lead 17-14 off a pair of jump shots by Mastry and Woodard free throw shooting.

Topsail showed their quick strike ability by scoring five points to go back in front 19-17 and began to turn the tide with a 16-5 run to halftime to make it a 30-22 lead.

“I think we hung in really well in the first half. And it was a good game until the last minute and a half or so, they kind of stretched it out. And I think that we were a little dejected, because we played so well. It was a two- or four-point game and all of a sudden it’s an eight point game. I think we were a little dejected about that. We talked about things at halftime, and I thought we hung in for a while after halftime. It was just hard to chip away at it,” West Brunswick girls’ varsity coach Kevin Holland said.

In the third period, the Pirates picked up the pace of their transition game to score 16 points on the Trojans, but West stuck with them as best they could and kept it to a 16-10 quarter to put Topsail up 46-32 going into the fourth.

The Trojans couldn’t find an answer in the fourth period as Topsail outscored them again, 10-5 to hold on to their road win 56-37.

West Brunswick is set for one more regular season road game in Wilmington against New Hanover on Tuesday, Feb. 7 and then host Senior Night against South Brunswick on Thursday.

Brian Slattery is the sports editor for The Brunswick Beacon. Reach him at 910-239-7433 or bslattery@brunswickbeacon.com.