Both Hickory basketball teams take over first place

Yazmin Hannah scored a game-high 13 points and three teammates also reached double figures on Friday night, leading Hickory High’s girls to a key Northwestern 3A-4A basketball victory.

The visiting Red Tornadoes edged South Caldwell 53-37 and took over first place in the conference race.

Hickory (14-1, 3-0) won its 18^th straight league game and knocked off South Caldwell (7-6, 3-1), the last team in the conference to beat the Red Tornadoes, for the sixth straight time.

South Caldwell opened the game by hitting three of its first six shots for a 6-2 lead with four minutes, 12 seconds left in the first quarter on a basket by Amber Gross.

But Hickory, 1-for-4 from the field with five turnovers in its first 10 possessions, eventually started hitting on all cylinders.

The Red Tornadoes finished the first quarter hitting 5-of-10 from the floor as part of a 12-0 run and they led 14-6 after the first eight minutes.

While Hickory’s offense was showing life, South Caldwell was going in the opposite direction.

The Spartans finished the quarter 0-for-5 from the floor and four turnovers on their final nine possessions.

“I thought it was a good fought game,” said Hickory head coach Barbara Helms. “I don’t think either team would say they had a great game, but I thought once we picked up our defensive intensity at the end of the first quarter it allowed us to get some separation.”

The Spartans were within 25-17 at halftime before Hickory opened the game up in the third quarter by hitting 6-of-12 of shots. South Caldwell, meanwhile, hit 2-of-10 and Hickory, outscoring the Spartans 16-7, open a 41-24 lead heading into the final quarter.

Hickory opened the second half with 10 unanswered points to take a 35-17 lead with 5:08 remaining on a 3-pointer by Hannah.

The Red Tornadoes scored on five of their first seven second-half possessions, and Hannah was the sparkplug with five of the 10 points scored.

From that point, South Caldwell got no closer than 14 points.

 “We got off to a good start and then went south a little bit,” said South Caldwell head coach Jeff Parham. “I thought we made some improvement over the last time we played them but we turned the ball over way too much, especially against a team like Hickory.

“We just have to go back to the drawing board and get better.”

Aja Hoyle added 12 points for Hickory followed by Erica Troutman and Danasha Witherspoon with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

South Caldwell was led by Gross’ nine points.

HICKORY 85, SOUTH CALDWELL 47

Dereck Barnes scored a game-high 13 points and the Red Tornadoes (13-2, 3-0) left Hudson alone in first place in the Northwestern 3A-4A.

Much like the girls’ game, South Caldwell (6-7, 1-3) appeared as if it would make a game of it in the first quarter with a 13-10 lead.

But that quarter was the highlight for the Spartans.

Hickory pulled in front with 4:51 remaining in the second quarter on a basket by Barnes for a 16-15 lead.

That was the beginning of a long night for the Spartans as Hickory hit its next six shots to lead 31-17 with 1:20 remaining on a 3-pointer by Barnes.

In the final 4:51 of the first half, Hickory was 8-of-9 from the floor and 6-of-7 on free throws and the Red Tornadoes led 37-19 by halftime.

In that run, Barnes scored 11 of Hickory’s 23 first-half points.

“We did a better job with our defensive pressure in that run,” said Hickory head coach Shawn Johnson.

Hickory opened the second half with five unanswered points to push the lead to 23 points on a basket by Zach Jarrett.

From that point the margin never got below 21 points.

Hickory had three players in double figures and got 52 points from its bench.

Darius Malbon and Jalen Byrd finished with 10 points apiece for Hickory.

Conner Drum led South Caldwell with 10 points.