Darlington Girls basketball team defeats Cheraw
By: Don Gearhart
In first round of play in the Falcon Holiday Tournament, the Lady Falcons assaulted the Cheraw Lady Braves amidst a festive atmosphere. With a smothering defense, the Lady Falcons built an 18-2 lead after one period of play. Autumn Joseph got things started with a free throw, at 1-0, the lead would never be in jeopardy. Camile Patterson knocked down two baskets before Aniya Bulloch launched a 3-pointer to make it 8-0. Tamira Benton scored a pair of baskets that sandwiched another Patterson score, then Ari Mcphail closed out the period with a pair of baskets of her own. The Lady Braves were scoreless until 0:13 left in the half when a break-away layup changed the scoreboard to the 18-2 mark.
Period two began the same way as the first one with Darlington putting pressure all over the court resulting in turnovers by Cheraw and very few, and forced shots. Benton canned a basket early then let one fly from behind the arc for three. Kabreyia Davis connected for a trifecta as well to jump the lead to 26-2 with only 2:30 off the second period clock. Darlington cleared their bench for the remainder of the period yet still outscored the Lady Braves through the remainder of the period to take a 34-5 lead into the locker room.
With a running clock the rest of the game, the third period saw Darlington increase their lead to 47-6. They were lead by Jamera Madison who tallied five points while Joseph added four points off offensive rebounds.
Substituting freely and backing off some of the pressure was the tale of the final period. Benton scored six of Darlington’s ten points in the quarter and the Lady Falcons limited Cheraw to a single basket with the final score set at 57-8.
Benton had a game-high 15 points. Patterson scored eight points inside the paint and Joseph added seven points on the inside as well.
Darlington plays the Lady Bruins from South Florence in the championship game.
