North Lenoir boys, girls lose to Eastern Wayne

LA GRANGE | North Lenoir fell victim to a hot-shooting Eastern Wayne team Friday, as the Warriors used a strong second quarter to win 93-66.

The Hawks (2-3) took a 15-11 lead into the second quarter, but the Warriors (2-4) exploded from there. Wesley Case had 14 points in the frame, including four 3-pointers as Eastern Wayne went up 46-29 and never looked back. Overall, the Warriors hit 10 from beyond the arc and had a strong effort from Devin Brown inside, who had 19.

“I thought we played pretty good for a quarter and then (Eastern Wayne) shot the ball well, they got it to their post player and we couldn’t get a second defender down there,” North Lenoir coach Anthony Loftin said. “We almost have to play a perfect game because of our size and it was a tough matchup for us. We can’t put our heads down — we’ve got to bounce back.”

The Hawks start Eastern Carolina Conference play on the road Tuesday against West Craven with a rematch against Eastern Wayne the following day and a home game with Washington Friday.

EASTERN WAYNE 93, NORTH LENOIR 66

EW         11           35           23           22 — 93

NL           15           14           19           18 — 66

EASTERN WAYNE — Kris Clark 23, Devin Brown 19, Wesley Case 19, Desmond Vaughn 15, Rouse 6, Spears 5, Mills 2, Moore 2, Q. Vaughn 2

NORTH LENOIR — Deshaun Kee 13, Terrance Copper 13, Jordan Blow 11, Koonce 6, Artis 5, Hawkins 4, Brown 4, Gatling 3, Jones-Gatling 3, Sears 3, Becton 1

Three-pointers: EW — Case 5, Clark 3, Spears, Vaughn. NL — Kee, Gatling, Koonce, Jones-Gatling, Sears.

For the girls, free throws were the culprit again as the Hawks fell to Eastern Wayne 60-50.

North Lenoir (2-3) lost all three of its games this week, falling to Southwest Edgecombe 70-64 Tuesday and Farmville Central 64-59 Wednesday. The team went 29 of 72 from the line in the contests, including 12 of 28 against the Warriors (5-2).

“We had our opportunities, but just couldn’t finish,” North Lenoir coach Howard Wooley said. “It’s been tough this week, but we’ve got to work on our free throws and turning the ball over less heading into next week.”

EASTERN WAYNE 60, NORTH LENOIR 50

EW         12           10           16           22 — 60

NL           11           7              17           15 — 50

EASTERN WAYNE — Myesha Best 26, Nyesha Best 17, Williams 6, Ward 5, Smith 4, Jones 2

NORTH LENOIR — Ashanti Lynch 16, Emmenia Lynch 11, Kanijah Taylor 11, McPhail 5, Sparrow 4, Mason 3

Three-pointers: EW —  M. Best 4, N. Best, Ward. NL — A. Lynch, McPhail.