PARKERS CHAPEL - This week has been a very profitable one for Parkers Chapel.
On Thursday night, the Trojans picked up their third conference win in four nights by topping Lafayette County 62-39 in 8-2A play.
Terrell Malone had 20 points, while Evan Younger added 16 points and Preston Stivender finished with 15 points for the Trojans (12-6, 10-1), who picked up road wins at Fordyce and Hampton on Monday and Tuesday before capping a season sweep of the Cougars (6-12, 3-6) on Thursday.
The Trojans jumped out to a 16-8 lead at the end of the first quarter before pushing their lead to 30-16 at intermission.
The lead mushroomed to 50-28 after three periods of play.
“I thought we played really well defensively again tonight,” Parkers Chapel coach Josh Langley said. “We are starting to figure out that defense leads to great offense and guys are really buying into what we want to do.”
Langley said his team’s depth played a critical role, especially early on.
“We got ourselves in a little early foul trouble, and guys like (JT) Phelps, (Lancer) Clark, (Braydon) McGoogan and (Nik) Garcia played some big minutes tonight,” Langley said. “Lafayette County is very athletic and they don’t go away. We had a good lead the last time we played them and they came back and made it a ballgame, so we knew we couldn’t let up or the same thing was going to happen. I felt like we played four complete quarters tonight, which we haven’t done.”
After upending the Redbugs in overtime Monday with Stivender scoring five points in a seven-second span to erase a four-point deficit, Parkers Chapel and Fordyce will have their rematch on Tuesday.
“We hope to pack Jack G. Walls Gymnasium and have a really fun atmosphere on Tuesday,” Langley said.
BIG THIRD QUARTER LEADS LADY TROJANS
Ali Looney scored 20 points Thursday to lead Parkers Chapel’s senior girls past Lafayette County 52-42. The Lady Trojans improved to 10-9 overall and 7-4 in conference.
The Lady Cougars (4-12, 1-8) led 22-16 at the half.
Parkers Chapel outscored Lafayette County 20-5 in the third quarter. Drue Thomas scored nine of her 14 points in the third. Looney scored nine in the fourth.
Elexis Easter led Lafayette County with 14 points. Easter hit four 3-pointers in the first half but was held to just two points the rest of the way.
Looney was 7-of-11 at the line. Thomas was 6-of-10 as Parkers Chapel shot 21-of-30 on free throws as a team.
PC JUNIOR BOYS ROLL
The Trojans also won the junior boys game 54-35.
Much like the varsity game, Parkers Chapel jumped out to a big lead early on, taking an 18-9 advantage after one period of play before taking leads of 32-16 at halftime and 42-24 at the end of the third quarter.
Jaylen Gray and Payton Willeford led the Trojans with 11 points apiece.
Elijah Brown added nine points with Clay Evers chipping in with seven points for the Trojans, who improved their league record to 3-4.
“I thought our boys shot the ball extremely well tonight,” Langley said. “We have put a big emphasis on that in practice the last few weeks, and I think it’s about to start paying off for us. We are starting to understand how to play the game.
“This is a group of kids who won only two games combined as seventh-graders, and they have more than doubled that with games remaining. They have dropped a few very close ones. I’m proud of those guys for continuing to work hard when the wins weren’t coming and understanding and embracing the process of becoming a good basketball team.”