Terry Parker HS- The Gateway Conference Tournament Quarterfinals at Terry Parker High School featured Raines versus Baldwin and Terry Parker versus Mandarin Tuesday Night.
In game one, Raines jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead causing Baldwin to take an early timeout less than two minutes into the game. Baldwin got it going after the timeout and traded a couple of baskets to bring the score to 14-8 with two minutes remaining in the first quarter. The score never got closer than that, as Raines went on a 33-2 run leading Baldwin 47-10 at halftime. It was more of the same in the second half but Raines took some of the pressure off by making sure every player got in the game. Raines defeated Baldwin 60-17. Raines was led by Ahliah Brown with 16 points. Baldwin was led by James and Williams, both with 4 points.
The second game of the night was much closer as Terry Parker defeated Mandarin 67-57. Both teams started out cold from the field. This may have been due to the delay in the start of the game because of some confusion with the jerseys. Terry Parker scored first and was up 12-2 forcing a Mandarin timeout with 3:02 left in the first quarter. Terry Parker led throughout the game but missed lay-ups and free throws keeping Mandarin in the game as they were not able to push the lead past ten in the first half. It was more of the same to begin the third quarter.
Terry Parker was still in control but couldn’t pull away as Mandarin continued to play hard despite playing from behind the entire game. The fourth quarter was a different story as Terry Parker started to hit those layups that they were missing earlier. Senior Kennedy Horton continued her hot shooting from the 3-point line. She hit eight 3’s and had 30 points for the game. They were able to push the lead to 20 with 5 minutes left in the game. Mandarin called a timeout to regroup and went on a 7-0 run forcing Terry Parker to call a timeout with 3:21 remaining in the game. They went back and forth, trading baskets the rest of the game and the halftime deficit proved to be the difference in the game. Terry Parker’s other leading scores were Freshman Terrielle Clark with 11 points and Senior Takia Brown with 10 points. Mandarin was led by Freshman Nykeria Thomas and Senior Jayla Thompson, both with 16 points.
Raines and Terry Parker will play each other in the Semifinals of the Gateway Conference Tournament on Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 5:30 pm at Ribault High School.
