Tuesday’s roundup: Gaston County Middle School sports will begin next month, High school basketball and soccer results and college football news

By Richard Walker

Gaston County Middle Schools will hold championships in six sports this season after play had been suspended since March 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Chad Duncan, Gaston County Schools athletic director, said softball and boys soccer teams will begin practice on March 1 and play a schedule of divisional opponents before concluding their seasons before the April 17-20 spring break.

And baseball, girls soccer and girls and boys track will begin practice on April 12 and play a schedule of divisional opponents before concluding their seasons before May 12.

 

High school boys basketball

Forestview 55, Ashbrook 48: The host Jaguars (3-6) knocked off rival Ashbrook as Jaycob Neely scored 16 points, Travian Neely 15, Camury Reid 11 and Jo Dawkins 10.

Burns 91, Chase 62

Bessemer City 70, Highland Tech 43: Randall Pettus (31 points, 5 assists, 5 steals), Keyshawn Adams (22 points, 10 rebounds), Jameer Holmes (10 rebounds), Terrance Smith (7 points, 9 rebounds) and Hansel Hughley (6 points, 4 steals) led Bessemer City.

Mountain Island Charter 70, Community School of Davidson 53

Crest 85, Cramer 51: Mari Adams scored 15 points as Crest (8-1, 8-0) stayed unbeaten in Big South 3A Conference action. Drew Wofford (12 points), Frankie Verdezas (10 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) and Jacob Joyner (9 points) led Cramer (0-9), which plays at South Point on Friday.
Crest won the JV game 80-40. Isaiah Foster (13 points, 4 assists) and Trevor Gregg (12 points) led Cramer (5-4).

Maiden 91, West Lincoln 53

North Lincoln 84, Lake Norman Charter 65

East Lincoln 59, Lincolnton 38: Jeremiah Jones scored 17 points and Drew Bean 15 for East Lincoln (7-2), which increased its winning streak to seven straight games over the rival Wolves. Amontre Finger and Conner Williams had nine points apiece for Lincolnton (4-3).

R-S Central 84, Shelby 78: The Golden Lions (8-1, 7-1) saw their 24-game winning streak come to an in the road loss. Shelby’s last loss came on Jan. 18, 2020.

South Point 76, East Gaston 54: Ayden Baker (32 points), Cooper Ray (12 points, 10 assists) and Sully Absher (10 points, 10 rebounds) led South Point (7-2). Trenton Sherrill and Desmond Ross had 14 points apiece for East Gaston.

Lincoln Charter 79, Thomas Jefferson 59: The Eagles (9-0) remained unbeaten with Southern Piedmont 1A Conference home win with Sam Cogan (31 points), Avery Borden (12 points) and Chrichton Palmer (11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) leading the way.

 

High school girls basketball

Burns 59, Chase 18: Tishiona Strong had 13 points, Mya Crosby 13 and Maggie Earl nine for Burns (4-5, 4-4), which hosts East Rutherford on Friday night.

Bessemer City 44, Highland Tech 40: Janiya Adams (28 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals), Imani Rhodes (6 points, 12 rebounds) and Soriah McDowell (4 points, 9 rebounds) led Bessemer City.

Crest 59, Cramer 12: Alexis Marshall had 10 points to lead Crest and Ranija Hamilton had five points and Faith Nash three for Cramer.

Lake Norman Charter 39, North Lincoln 35

East Lincoln 50, Lincolnton 21

Kings Mountain 62, North Gaston 33: Saniya Wilson (17 points, 7 assists, 7 steals), Khalia King (12 points, 3 rebounds) and Kennedy Barnes (9 points, 10 rebounds) led Kings Mountain (6-1, 5-1), which plays at Cramer on Thursday. Mallory Canup and Bailey Perry had 10 points apiece for North Gaston.

Shelby 76, R-S Central 54: Shelby improved to 9-0 with the road victory.

East Gaston 76, South Point 30

West Lincoln 53, Maiden 44: Chloe Norman (20 points) and Carolina Robinson (16 points, 12 rebounds) led West Lincoln (4-5).

 

High school boys soccer
Ashbrook 5, Crest 1: Jeremiah George had three goals, Jesse Coleman and Daniel Hines one goal apiece, John Francis, Jayden Dixon, David Zuluaga and Sanders Zendejas had assists and Francis, Coleman, Bailey Wilcox and Fidel Medina were defensive leaders for Ashbrook.

Shelby 7, Chase 0

East Gaston 5, R-S Central 3

East Lincoln 3, North Lincoln 0: For East Lincoln, Landon Graden, Chase Lynch and Jackson Thrap had goals, Blake Swanson had two assists and Caleb Anderson one and Will White and Braxton Reeves combined for the goalkeeping shutout. The Mustangs (3-0) visit Bandys on Wednesday.

Highland Tech 4, Cherryville 1

College football
New Charlotte assistant: 49ers head coach Will Healy has announced the hiring of Herb Hand as the program’s offensive line coach. Hand, who has 30 years of collegiate coaching experience, spent the previous three seasons as co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Texas and enjoyed great success in stints at Auburn, Penn State, Vanderbilt, Tulsa and West Virginia.
“I’m so excited to be able to work with Herb Hand,” Healy said in a school news release. “He has always been one of my favorites in this profession and has been an incredible mentor to me. He is one of the best offensive line coaches in the country and it says a lot about our program that we were able to make such a home run hire. He’s a great coach, a great person and a great fit for our staff.”