By By Austin Bishop/The Meridian Star
Dec. 13, 2000
A deep, talented Hillcrest Christian School team wore down the homestanding Lamar High School Raiders to take a 65-39 win in boys basketball on Tuesday night.
Lamar held a 13-10 lead six minutes into the game, but then went the next 12 minutes without scoring a basket as the Cougars built up a 41-16 lead on the way to the win.
The Hillcrest girls outscored Lamar 15-7 in the third quarter to turn a three-point lead into an 11-point advantage on the way to a 43-31 win.
Both the Lamar girls and boys travel to Columbus on Saturday to take on Heritage Academy. Junior high action begins at 2 p.m.
In the boys game, the Raiders moved the ball around well in the early going, picking up five assists on their first six baskets.
Hillcrest outscored Lamar 18-3 in the second quarter to take a 35-16 lead into the locker room at the half.
Seth Smith, who has committed to the Ole Miss football program as a quarterback, scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half.
Jared McKee scored 14 points and had seven rebounds to lead the Raiders offensively, while Dusty Jones scored 13 points.
One bright spot for Lamar was improved free-throw shooting. The Raiders, who fall to 5-7 on the year with the loss, were 15-for-21 from the line.
Hillcrest Girls 43, Lamar 31: The Lady Cougars quickly stretch out its 4-11 halftime lead to 23-13, before the Lady Raiders rallied to cut it to 23-18 on a three-pointer by Melissa Pennington with 3:23 left in the third quarter.
But Hillcrest scored the next six points to lead 29-18 after three quarters of play, and controlled the game from their.
Myleia Shirley led Lamar, now 1-11 on the season, with 11 points, while Summer Ritchie hit for eight.
Amy McDonald led Hillcrest with 13 points.