By By Adam Robinson – Sports Editor
The Escambia County Lady Blue Devils used a 21-8 run in the third quarter to defeat the W.S. Neal Lady Eagles Friday night in their opener of the Escambia County Tournament 60-39.
The loss dropped the Lady Eagles to 6-3 on the season and to 0-1 in the tournament.
Leading 13-10 at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Eagles were outscored 16-12 in the second quarter to trail 26-25 at the half.
The Lady Eagles then were outscored 21-8 in the third quarter to fall behind 47-33 heading into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, Escambia County outscored W.S. Neal 13-6 to claim the 21-point win, 60-39.
Keyvonnia Kyles led the Lady Eagles with 10 points in the loss. Rachel Davis added eight points in the loss and Lakiesha Hawthorne chipped in seven in the loss.
W.S. Neal opened the game on a 4-0 run behind the points of Katie Elliott and Freda Folmar.
Escambia County fought back and tied the game at 4-4 with 6:47 left in the quarter and the game stayed close until the end of the quarter with W.S. Neal holding a 13-10 lead at the end of the first quarter with a 5-0 run to end the quarter.
In the second quarter, the Lady Eagles added to their run and made it a 12-0 run as they took a 20-10 lead at the 6:09 mark.
From there, the Lady Devils outscore the Lady Eagles 16-5 to end the quarter with a 26-25 lead at the half.
The second half was just about all Escambia County as they outscored the Lady Eagles 34-14 en route to the 21-point win, 60-39.
W.S. Neal 58, McKenzie 25
In earlier action for the W.S. Neal Lady Eagles, the Lady Eagles had a total complete game last Monday night at home against McKenzie.
The W.S. Neal Lady Eagles opened the game with a 12-0 lead and outscored McKenzie 23-6 in the fourth quarter en route to a 33-point win over McKenzie, 58-25.
Katie Elliott scored 17 points in the win to lead the Lady Eagles and Freda Folmar finished with 10 points.
Seven other players chipped in points for the Lady Eagles as they improved to 6-2, one win short of the amount of wins they won all of last year.
After taking a 12-0 lead in the game with 1:39 left in the first quarter, the Lady Eagles ended the first quarter with a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, McKenzie cut the lead to 14-7 45 seconds into the quarter, but Keyvonnia Kyles gave W.S. Neal a 10-point lead again when she connected with a basket to put W.S. Neal up 17-7 with 5:32 left in the half.
W.S. Neal ended the half with a 21-11 lead.
In the second half, W.S. Neal used a run in the third quarter to grab a 14-8 scoring advantage in the quarter to hold a 35-19 lead at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, W.S. Neal outscored McKenzie 23-6 en route to the big win, 58-25.
Elliott scored 11 of her 17 points in the fourth quarter.