Piedmont basketball teams visited the court at Moore High School Tuesday, Dec. 17 on Moore’s homecoming night.
The Piedmont girls won 70-49 in the first game. The boys lost their game.
Piedmont Lady Wildcats and the Moore Lady Lions tipped off at 6 p.m. and Rylie Burnett for Piedmont opened the scoring on a drive through the lane to the bucket, picking up a foul and a bonus shot for an early three-point lead.
The Lady Lions’ Florida Johnson, a sophomore, hit a three for Moore, and it was answered by Piedmont’s Kenley Crawford who hit a long trey of her own.
The teams went up and down the court without much scoring during a stretch in the first quarter with missed three-pointers in transition.
Burnett scored off a bounce pass under the basket and Piedmont led 8-4 with 3:30 to go in the first quarter. Piedmont led at the end of the first quarter 14-13.
The second quarter was also low-scoring at the start. With 4:38 minutes left in the half it was 17-15 in Piedmont’s favor. Moore’s Johnson was fouled and completed a three-point play to give the Lady Lions a three-point lead.
Burnett cut it back to a two-point lead for Moore and then made a steal to add to her stat sheet. She couldn’t convert a layup at the other end of the court. And Moore led at halftime, 26-22.
Moore built an 8-point lead in the third quarter before Kenley Crawford hit a trey and cut it to five points. A steal and a layup from Piedmont’s Najya Wilson, a freshman point guard, brought the Lady ‘Cats back to within three points. Another steal and a foul put Destiny Duffy on the line. Wilson hit a three and the Lady Wildcats retook the lead and then led 36-32 with 3:56 left in the third quarter.
The third quarter ended in Piedmont’s favor, 48-41.
Moore cut the Piedmont lead to six-points at 48-42 with 6:49 left in the game. Burnett’s turnaround jumper gave the Lady ‘Cats a lead of eight. Tough defense by Piedmont helped as the game went down the stretch. Crawford got hot with the treys and hit one with 5:40 to go and Piedmont led by 11 points.
The Wildcats wore down the Lady Lions the rest of the way and the girls won with a final score of Ella Watkins blocked a shot with about 5:20 to go, and Piedmont pulled away. Two inbound baseball passes from the baseline from Duffy to Rylie Burnett resulted in four more points. Then Crawford poured in another trey. With 3:35 to go it was Piedmont 62-47. Final score was 70-49.
The Lady Wildcats improved their record to 3-4 overall.
The Piedmont Wildcats boys’ team took the floor next.
Moore had a noticeable height advantage.
Moore’s Roman Miller at 6 feet 5 inches for Moore hit a trey to open the scoring. But Hudson Hite hit one to tie it. A low-scoring first quarter ended with Moore ahead despite a Carter Hainrihar trey, it was 13-8, Moore. Bryce McConnell hit a trey and it was 13-11 Moore with just 30 seconds to go in the first quarter. The first quarter ended with Moore in favor 16-11.
Shooting went mostly cold for the Wildcats in the Moore house. Moore built a lead in the second quarter and led 30-20. Moore’s Chance Rodgers hit a long three at the end of the first half.
Moore started to pull away with their athleticism and the score became 47-22 in their favor with 3:53 to go in the third quarter. The Wildcats were outscored 17-2 to start the third quarter.
The third quarter ended with Moore ahead 56-30. The Moore lead extended to 20 points with four minutes to go in the game. The final score was Moore 60 and Piedmont 43. The Lions won their homecoming game Tuesday night.
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