The Chesnee Eagles opened region play with a sweep of the Carolina Trojans on Tuesday night in front of their home crowd.
In the boys game Chesnee used a big run in the third along with solid defense to down the Carolina Trojans 50-42 to open region II-3A play. "It feels good,” said Chesnee head coach Andy Pitt. “In a region like ours you have to defend your home court." Carolina jumped out to a early 4-0 lead but a KJ Valentine free throw and a Lorenzo Duren three pointer quickly tied it back up. As the teams traded small runs for the remainder of the quarter the Trojans were able to build a 15-12 lead at the end of play in the first quarter. The same trend continued into the second quarter as both teams once again traded runs with Carolina being unable to take the a 23-20 halftime lead. Nyquille O'Fair scored five of the Eagle's ten points in the quarter. Chesnee opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 29-23 lead as Jacob Kimbrell helped spark the run with four points including the basket that put the Eagles out in front for good. The Eagles went into the final frame with a two point lead at 36-34 but KJ Valentine put on a solid performance down low in the final quarter as the preseason All-Region selection scored seven of Chesnee's fourteen points in the fourth quarter. "He is a monster rebounding the ball,” said Pitt. “Those baskets he made down the stretch were huge." Nyquille O'Fair and KJ Valentine both finished in double figures for the Eagles as O'Fair had sixteen points and Valentine finished with twelve of his own. Dexter Terrell led the way for the Trojans with fourteen points and Zamonte Sullivan finished with eight points. In the girls game the Lady Eagles used a solid performance from the trio of Blair, Beach, and Ray to down the Lady Trojans 66-25. "Any day you can get a win is a good day,” said Chesnee head coach Carey Burns. “Winning builds confidence going in to the remainder of our region schedule." "This was a big win to start region play for us,” said junior Jessa Beach. ”It gives us confidence as we continue into region play.” The trio got off to a fast start as they opened the game by scoring the first eleven points for the Lady Eagles to give Chesnee a 12-7 lead after the first quarter. Jessa Beach continued the trio's strong play with a basket to start the second and Jamekia Evans also had a strong second quarter as she scored five of the Lady Eagles thirteen points to help them build a 25-12 halftime lead. To close the first half and the start of the third the Lady Trojans went on a run that cut the Lady Eagles lead to eleven but that’s as close as Carolina would get the rest of the game. Chesnee responded with a 10-0 run with all ten points coming from Abbey Ray and Beach to build a 35-16 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter. "We started to put more pressure on them defensively,” said Burns. ”We were then able to force some turnovers." Abbey Ray continued her strong play in the fourth quarter as she scored eleven of her twenty points in the quarter while also grabbing nine rebounds for the Lady Eagles. Beach earned a double-double as she scored fifteen points and picked up eleven rebounds on Tuesday night. Kymiah Blair added twelve points to give the Lady Eagles three players in double figures. Manyiah Young and Christina Williams led the way for Carolina with seven points a piece. The Eagles will be back in action on Friday night as they travel to Southside. Comments are closed.
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