SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Night Hawks almost overcame a big first quarter deficit, but it was not enough as they fell to the Spartanburg Methodist Pioneers on Friday night.
The first quarter saw a scoring outburst for the Pioneers late as they ripped off a 17-6 run to end the quarter up 12. Thomas found their footing in the second though as they slowly began to chip away at the lead.
Destiny Hill made an impressive layup off of a
Kennedy Collins pass,
Sophia D'Amaro knocked down a jumper to bring the lead down to seven before a deep three by Spartanburg brought the deficit back up to double-digits. Not to be intimidated,
Tieraney Bolton made her way to the paint for a layup and
Aaliyah Ringold knocked down a free throw to knock it down to eight. With 16 seconds to go in the half, D'Amaro found Hill on an excellent cut to the hoop to be down only by six going into the locker room.
The second half started similar to the first quarter as the Pioneers went on a 10-4 run to start, however, the Night Hawks answered back with Hill and
Kennedy Hayes making it to the charity stripe and converting their chances to keep the lead in single-digits. But Spartanburg Methodist responded with another quick burst of scoring to take a comfortable lead into the final quarter.
Thomas came out swinging in the fourth, with a
Jamia Brown three sparking an 8-4 run to kick off the quarter. Both teams quickly found themselves in a scoring drought until a layup by the Pioneers with 4:59 to go. Bolton knocked down a three to bring the deficit to six, but that is as close as the Night Hawks could get as Spartanburg knocked down a couple of shots to put the game out of reach.
Hill finished with a season high 19 points, to go along with 16 boards and one assist and Brown had 13 points, 5 boards and a block.
Thomas will return home for a matchup with University of Fort Lauderdale on Monday, December 16
th at noon.
