The Tharptown Lady Wildcats picked up their third win of the year against the Vina Red Devils 52-42. Just as in the previous two matchups, the Wildcats did it on the defensive end of the court, limiting the Red Devils’ three-point shooting and trips to the free-throw line.

“We have done a good job keeping their shooters in check and keeping (Rayleigh) Guin off the free throw line,” said Tharptown Coach Tanna Benford.

Shaylee Wieting hit two first-quarter three-pointers to help the Wildcats to an 11-8 lead. Tharptown led Vina 23-21 at halftime.

Aly Vandiver and Gracie Montgomery helped Tharptown extend that lead to 41-32 at the end of the third quarter. Vandiver scored eight points in the third, and Montgomery hit two of her three three-pointers in the third.

Wieting led Tharptown with 15 points. Vandiver followed with 14 points, and Montgomery added 11 points. Brooke Daily added seven points, Adrianna Borden three points and Jaiden Gaston two points.

Guin led Vina with 16 points. Sara Scott followed with 11 points. Kaitlyn King added nine points and Kaitlyn Athey six points.

Hatton 50, Tharptown 47

As time ticked off the clock, Hatton drained a corner three-pointer on an in-bounds pass to beat the Tharptown Wildcats 50-47.

The buzzer-beater dampened what was a career night for Montgomery. She scored 24 points, going 10-for-15 from the field – including two-for-three from beyond the three-point arch and two-for-two at the free-throw line – and she pulled down five rebounds.

The game was tied 14-14 at the end of the first quarter, but the Hornets outscored the Wildcats 18-7 in the second quarter to take a 32-21 halftime lead. Tharptown battled back in the third quarter, outscoring Hatton 14-5 to cut the Hornet lead to 37-35. Tharptown tied the game late in the fourth quarter on a steal by Brooke Daily and had a possession to win, but the Wildcats turned the ball over to the Hornets.

“That was a tough game to lose,” said Benford. “We fought so hard. We had too many turnovers in the game, but I thought we played well.

“We hope to play them again in the area tournament, but we have a lot of work to do to get there.”

Wieting followed Montgomery with 13 points. Vandiver had three points. Daily, Borden and Gaston added two points each. Sarah Mansell scored a point.

BOYS

Winston Nolen led the Tharptown Wildcats to two big wins last week and hit a big personal milestone as well.

Nolen, a junior guard, scored his 1,000 career point on a backdoor cut and layup against the Vina Red Devils.

“This was a great accomplishment for Winston,” said Tharptown Coach Shannon Benford. “He has played varsity basketball since the ninth grade. He hardly ever comes out of a game because he never seems to get tired. I am proud for him, but he has a long way to go.”

Tharptown 62, Phil Campbell 47

The Wildcats’ biggest win of the week came Friday night when the Wildcats topped the Phil Campbell Bobcats 62-47.

Tharptown jumped out to a 20-11 first quarter lead, but the Bobcats trimmed the lead to two points by halftime, 27-25.

Tharptown exploded in the third quarter, outscoring the Bobcats 21-6 to take a 48-31 lead.

Colton Simmons led Tharptown with 21 points. Yovani Gomez added 14 points. Edward Lopez finished the game with nine points. Nolen and Luis Valdez added eight points each. Edwin Garcia finished with two points.

Brett Saint led Phil Campbell with 17 points.

Tharptown 70, Vina 42

Nolen and Garcia led Tharptown with 15 points each in the easy 70-42 win over the Red Devils. Lopez added 12 points, and Valdez tacked on 11 points. Simmons finished with six points, Tyler Amos four points, Gomez three points, Ruben Alfaro two points and Nathan Lucas two points.

Braden Moomaw led Vina with 11 points.

Hatton 80, Tharptown 67

Nolen scored a season-high 31 points in Tharptown’s 80-67 loss to the Hatton Hornets.

Nolen had his best shooting night of his career, making 11-for-21 from the field (52 percent), six-for-11 from beyond the three-point arch and three-for-three on free-throws. He also pulled down nine rebounds.

Hatton led Tharptown 51-26 at halftime, but Tharptown outscored the Hornets 41-29 in the second half and cut the lead to eight at one time.