After having their season opener changed from Wednesday to Monday, the W.S. Neal girls and boys basketball teams split.

W.S. Neal’s girls took down Satsuma 47-37 to start the season 1-0 while the Satsuma Gators took a bite out of the W.S. Neal boys 60-28 to start them 0-1. No B-team game was played Monday night.

W.S. Neal girls 47, Satsuma 37

The John Saxon era for the W.S. Neal Lady Eagle basketball team got off to a winning start Monday as the Lady Eagles took down Satsuma 47-37 to start 1-0.

“It was awesome,” Saxon said. “We knew we had to work the boards to get the win. We were in better condition because we really have been pushing hard in that area. Then, we knew we were going to have to put some pressure on them in the second half and force them into a lot of turnovers and we did that. The game plan worked out good for us. It was our first game and we had a lot of mistakes but it gives us something to work on for the next game.”

W.S. Neal led 9-6 after the first quarter of play and 20-14 at halftime after an 11-8 advantage in the second quarter. In the third quarter, W.S. Neal outscored Satsuma 16-10 to extend their lead to 36-24. In the fourth, Satsuma outscored the Lady Eagles 13-11 and cut the lead to 10 points as W.S. Neal won 47-37.

Saxon said he was very pleased of the girls effort in the win.

“They responded every time they came back and made a run,” Saxon said. “The most important thing was everyone got to play and everyone contributed. It got a little scary there at the end, but if I had to make a decision, I would make sure everyone plays. That is what I am about. If they practice and wear a jersey, they are going to play. It is always good to get the first one under our belt. We had our gym dedication service today at break and we dedicated our gym to the Lord. So, he gets all the praise. It was just awesome to see some step up that I didn’t thing were going to step up. Once we get our offense rolling because some were nervous, I think we will be OK.”

Keyvonnia Kyles led W.S. Neal with 26 points and Tiana Smith had 10 points. Megan Andrews had five points while Jasmine Crook, Angelique Askew and Shapashian Lane had two points each.

W.S. Neal was 5-for-10 from the free throw line while Satsuma was 10-for-22.

The Lady Eagles had runs of 7-0 in the first and second quarters along with a 6-0 run in the third. Andrews had 10 rebounds and Crook had 12 in the win. Dr. Robert DeFrancisco presented the game ball for W.S. Neal

Satsuma 60, W.S. Neal 28

The Satsuma Gators took a big bite out of the W.S. Neal Eagle boys basketball team Monday night at home as they dropped W.S. Neal 0-1 to start the season with a 60-28 win.

“Inexperience played a role tonight,” W.S. Neal boys head coach Derek Roberts said. “We only have two guys from last year that played basketball. Inexperience played a role and we only had a week of practice with everyone here. I am looking forward to the season and I think we are going to get a lot better. We will be successful in the end.”

Satsuma used two 7-0 runs in the first quarter to hold a 24-8 lead and then added an 8-0 run in the second quarter to outscore the Eagles 11-10 to hold a 35-18, 17-point lead at the half.

In the third quarter, Satsuma used a 10-0 run and outscored W.S. Neal 15-2 to take a 50-20 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Gators extended their run to 12-0 and outscored the Eagles 10-8 in the fourth quarter to get the big win.

W.S. Neal shot 8-for-18 from the free throw line in the loss while Satsuma shot 9-of-14.

Kenny Kiser led the Eagles scoring with 13 points followed by Donovan Millican and Montrel Banks with four points each. Jalen Harrod had three points while Rashod Taylor and Dalton Evans both had two points each.