Hornets capture wins at home

Published 11:15 pm Friday, February 4, 2011

Irving Smith drives the lane in the third quarter of the Hornets 66-33 win over Maplesville Friday night.

Dallas County High School didn’t really try to score in the fourth quarter against Maplesville High School Friday.

Then, again they didn’t have to.

The Hornets used a suffocating defense to force turnovers and grab easy shots en route to a 66-33 win in Plantersville.

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“That is what we have been working all week,” said head coach Willie Moore. “We weren’t really concerned about our offense. We wanted to play good defense and score off turnovers and were able to do that.”

The Hornets controlled the game from the beginning, rolling to a 26-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 25-point lead at the half.

“We didn’t really try to score in the fourth quarter,” said Moore. “We wanted to move the ball around and play good defense. I think overall we did pretty well tonight with what we were trying to do going in.”

Ladarius Richardson led the Hornets scoring 20 points. William Lee and Jessie Reeves also scored in double digits with 11 each.

The win, Moore said, should serve as a blueprint for the rest of the season.

“We just need to continue to play good defense all the way through games the rest of the year,” said Moore. “If we do that, I think we can continue to be successful.”

In the girls game Dallas County won 48-46 against Maplesville, but that was one of the only positives.

“It’s a win, but it’s not a good one,” said Charles Thompson, the Dallas County girls coach. “We want to win while looking good, and we didn’t do that tonight. We just didn’t live up to the standards we have for ourselves.”

The Hornets jumped out to a 17-12 lead at the end of one, but the Red Devils came back to tie the game at 22 heading into the half.

“We didn’t play well at all,” said Thompson. “We just didn’t defend well. We weren’t communicating and just really looked confused out there.”

Dallas County was able to take a 39-32 lead into the fourth quarter and held off a late Maplesville comeback to win. D’Undria Baggs lead the Lady Hornets with 22 points and Takeela Mixon chipped in with 13.