Athens takes two from Mabank Friday night
Boys complete comeback; Girls win in OT
Friday night was a good night for Athens basketball with both varsity teams coming away with wins over the Mabank Panthers.
In addition, the freshman and JV boys teams both won over Mabank. The freshman and JV girls lost close games to the Lady Panthers.
Athens is next scheduled to take to the court Tuesday night when the Hornets and Lady Hornets are on the road at Wills Point.
Hornets 56 - Panthers 49
The Athens Hornets roared back from a halftime deficit Friday night to beat the Mabank Panthers, 56-49.
The win evens the Hornets district record at 1-1.
Key to the win was an 11-2 run the final 3:42 of the third quarter. Jaden Crane accounted for 9 points during the run, knocking down a series of contested 15-foot jump shots.
The Hornets remained hot to start the fourth quarter, outscoring the Panthers 12-2. Jacorian Hemphill hit a pair of 3's during the run, including a rare 4-point play.
The Hornets were led by Crane with 15 points and Jorian Ray with 13 points. Hemphill and Derek Killingsworth both had 9, Connor Woodard 6, Eli Rincon 3, and Connor Clay had 1.
The Panther were led by Landry Johnson with 20 points and Caden Smith with 13.
Lady Hornets 51 - Lady Panthers 44 (OT)
After a miserable first half shooting the ball, the Athens Lady Hornets had an 88-second spree of 3-pointers in the the fourth quarter to get back into the game against Mabank and force overtime.
In OT, the Lady Hornets dominated on defense, holding the Lady Panthers without a field goal on their way to a 51-44 win over Mabank.
The Lady Hornets improved their district record to 2-1 with the win.
With his team down 21-15 at the half, Athens Coach Jeff Teague switched from a zone defense to man-to-man and the change seemed to provide a spark for the Lady Hornets.
The payoff came during the fourth quarter run that started with a McKenzie Hair 3-pointer. A quick steal followed, which Janessa Kiser turned into a bucket. Then Kyra Dawson and Kiser both hit 3's to give Athens its first lead since midway through the second quarter.
Hair continued her hot second-half shooting by hitting another 3-pointer early in OT. Mimi McCollister followed that with a field goal and Athens never looked back.
The Lady Hornets were led by McCollister with 24 points and Hair with 10 points. Tori Williams added 6, Kiser and Dawson both had 5, and Karlie Cook had 1.
The Lady Panthers were led by Savannah Wagner and Drew Neighbors with 10 points each.
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