LILLINGTON — Avery Headen and Ashlyn Ray combined for 17 first-half points as Jordan-Matthews opened up an eight-point advantage at intermission and never trailed after the break while cruising to a 50-38 non-conference win over Western Harnett Wednesday evening on the losers’ court.
The triumph gave the Lady Jets their third straight victory for the first time since the 2017-18 season and lifted J-M to 5-9 for the year, while the Lady Eagles lost for the 11th time in 13 outings.
Headen led Jordan-Matthews with 13 points and Ellia Wright notched 10, while Ray and Jasmine Scotten chipped in eight apiece. The Lady Jets connected on 21-of-51 (41 percent) of their field goal attempts and committed 22 turnovers.
Makyia Mackey was the lone Western Harnett player in double figures with 12 points as the Lady Eagles shot 15-of-47 (32 percent) from the floor while managing to out-rebound J-M 33-25 but turned the ball over 33 times.
“We didn’t have the greatest shooting night, but we were finally able to pull away in the third quarter when we turned up the defense,” related Lady Jets’ coach Charles Byrd. “I think the girls are starting to get a better understanding of what we want to do defensively, and they are buying into the philosophy that defense wins championships.
“Rebounding continues to be a weakness but it’s something we have been putting a big emphasis on in practice,” said Byrd. “I believe the team is really beginning to enjoy the game and they are having fun together. They share the ball really well and we’re finally starting to get offensive contributions from a number of people, which was a problem for us early-on in the season.”
Western Harnett coach Matthew Smith commented after his team played well for more than a quarter the wheels just seemed to come off.
“I thought we got off to a good start before we went flat in the second period,” said Smith. “We need to learn how to maintain intensity both running the floor and shooting, and a lot of that comes down to the girls just believing in themselves.”
Turnovers, the coach said, “have been our nemesis all year, and tonight was no different. It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over more than 30 times, but what kept us in the game was the rebounding of Makyia Mackey and Makayla Bailey (eight boards apiece).”
Following Headen’s mid-court steal and layup that gave Jordan-Matthews an 8-2 advantage three minutes into the game, the Lady Eagles ran off seven unanswered points to surge in front on Lanessa Bryson’s bank shot in the lane with 1:03 to go in the initial frame before Ray’s jumper from the right wing 20 seconds later put the Lady Jets ahead 10-9 after one quarter.
After three lead exchanges in the first minute of the second stanza, Ray’s put-back off the left baseline with 4:29 to go in the period gave J-M a 16-15 advantage, and one minute later Headen’s trey from the right side spurred a 10-3 quarter-ending run that boosted Jordan-Matthews’ lead to 26-18 at halftime.
Western Harnett narrowed the gap to three twice in the third period, the last time at 30-27 following Bailey’s rebound bucket in the lane with 2:53 remaining in the frame prior to Terrell Brooks’ three-pointer from the right wing that launched a 7-2 burst by the Lady Jets, allowing them to close out the quarter up 37-29.
Wright’s fast break layup with 5:51 left in the contest capped a 7-0 J-M run to begin the fourth stanza, putting Jordan-Matthews in front by 15, and the Lady Jets went on to build their biggest advantage of the evening at 50-33 following another Wright fast break layup with 3:21 remaining to play before the Lady Eagles tallied the final five points of the game.