The Morgan Academy Lady Senators took control early and kept the momentum the rest of the way, as they defeated the East Memorial Lady Wildcats 58-36 in day two of the Morgan Pepsi Classic on Friday.

Jennifer Moore, head girls basketball coach of Morgan Academy (4-8), said her team was once again able to spread the floor and run the fast break.

“We were able to get the ball down court on the fast break,” Moore said, “and were able to spread out the offense and work the ball inside. And we were actually getting some post players to make some down-low moves.”

Morgan trailed 8-6 early in the first, but that turned out to be the last time they were behind, as a 3-pointer by Casey Baggett gave the Lady Senators a 9-8 lead with 3:28 left in the first.

Baggett helped extend the lead to 12-8 on another three-point play, this time scoring on a fast-break layup and hitting her free throw after being fouled.

East Memorial’s Taylor Watkins hit a mid-range shot to make it 12-10, but Morgan answered back by going on a 10-2 run to close the quarter ahead 22-12, as Baggett scored 6 points and Kendall Veach hit a 3-pointer in that stretch.

The second quarter was more of the same for Morgan, with the Lady Senators outscoring the Lady Wildcats 15-6 to enter halftime ahead 37-18.

Veach scored 4 points and Lauren Yeldell added 5 points in a second quarter that helped put Morgan’s lead out of reach.

Baggett led Morgan with 20 points, while Veach and Yeldell each had 11 points for the Lady Senators.

Jordyn Lentz had 11 points for East Memorial and Watkins had 9 points.

The Lady Senators shot 49 percent from the field and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds on the night.

Girls games for the Morgan Pepsi Classic will resume Saturday at 3 p.m. with Clarke Prep playing Southern, followed by South Choctaw versus East Memorial and Morgan against Sparta, both at 6 p.m.

 

East Memorial 73, Morgan 40

The Morgan Academy Senators kept it close early in the first half, but the second half belonged to the No. 6 East Memorial Wildcats, as they won 73-40 in day two of the Morgan Pepsi Classic on Friday.

Bob Taylor, head boys basketball coach of Morgan Academy (10-3), said the Wildcats simply hit their shots and outrebounded the Senators.

“25 [Jaylen McCoy] hit about four threes in a row. They’re a good basketball team. Coach [Scott] Phillips does a good job, and they came in and hit shots and we didn’t,” Taylor said. “They hit three or four threes in a row and we didn’t adjust to it as well as I thought we should. That was the difference in the game, I felt.”

The Senators trailed 31-18 midway through the second before Connor Henderson scored in the paint and hit a pair of free throws to make it a 31-22 game with 2:35 left in the first half.

Chandler Warren hit a three for East Memorial to extend the lead to 34-22.

Ford Manderson went one for two from the line for Morgan, but Dashun Bartley scored under the basket for the Wildcats to make it 36-23.

The Senators closed the half strong, as Manderson hit a 3-pointer and Trey Powe scored on a runner in the lane to put the halftime score at 36-28.

But East Memorial opened the second half with the hot hand, with McCoy hitting a pair of 3-pointers early in the quarter and Matt Bair scoring twice under the basket in a quarter where the Wildcats went on to outscore the Senators 24-13.

McCoy led the Wildcats with 22 points, while Bair had 16 points

Henderson and Dalton Lee each had 12 points for Morgan.

Boys games for the Morgan Pepsi Classic will resume Saturday at 1:30 p.m. with Cahawba against Southern, followed by East Memorial versus Clarke Prep at 4:30 p.m. South Choctaw will play Meadowview and Morgan will face Sparta with both games starting at 7:30 p.m.