Landmark basketball teams sweep Mercy

The games are always interesting when Our Lady of Mercy and Landmark Christian school tangle. Landmark hosted Mercy last Friday and won both games. Photo/Kathy Wiggins.

By Horace Holloman
Special to The Citizen

The Lady Eagles of Landmark Christian High School are no strangers to set backs, in fact the Eagles lost their leading rebounder and scorer Abby Johns to a broken elbow earlier in the week. However the Lady Eagles handled the adversity by defeating the Lady Bobcats of Our Lady of Mercy High School 37-35 Friday night at Landmark gymnasium.

The Lady Eagles battled back from an 11-point deficit in the first quarter and Sophomore Diamond Smith, who suffered a concussion just week ago, finished the game with 11 points.

"I'm just so proud of these girls," said head coach Jessica Carlyle."They are learning the game of basketball and they united as a team, we really needed this win."

The victory gave the Eagles just their second region win of the season and halted a two game losing skid.

During the first quarter of the game the Lady Bobcats pressured the ball creating four team steals in the first five minutes giving them an early 12-1 run.

The Eagles battled back with the help of Morgan Williams, who finished the night with seven points and 10 rebounds, cutting the lead to 22-15 at halftime.

"I told our girls at halftime to treat it one possession at a time, except your role and rebound the ball so we can get back in transition," said Carlyle.

Sophomore Anna Wilke, who had a game high seven blocks accompanied with eight rebounds, disrupted the Lady Bobcats offense in the paint.

The Lady Eagles managed to take the lead 27-26 with 1:42 left in the third quarter for the first time since they led 1-0.

Freshman Jillian Price nailed a huge three-pointer late in the fourth quarter to give the Eagles a four point cushion 32-28. With a chance for the Lady Bobcats to take the lead, Wilke had one of her biggest blocks of the night with just 30 seconds left in the game denying penetration inside and sealing the victory for her team.

"We are playing with a lot of young athletes, some of which have never started on the varsity level but I think this will be a turning point for Landmark Christian High School," said Carlyle.

The boys Basketball team played with less drama than their female counterparts-in short Landmark High School dominated in a 98-46 victory over Our Lady of Mercy High School. Maybe it was the demoralizing alley-oop dunk by Eagles'

Justin Ross early in the first quarter, or perhaps it was the Eagles up tempo offense or possibly the depth in their roster. Whatever the case may be the Eagles pounced on the Bobcats early and never looked back. "We played really fast, I think we got off to a fast start and that is always key for us," said head coach Chip Mcallister.

That fast start featured a 17-0 run in which point guard Graham Burson hit two three-pointers in transition and an alley-oop dunk by Ross over a Bobcat defender. Jack Patterson had 10 points and Ross had a game high 30 points and didn't play in the fourth quarter. The senior forward eclipsed the 1,000 point mark earlier in the season and had three dunks on the night.

"[Ross] has always scored his points in the framework of our offense, he is unselfish and plays great defense," said Mcallister. "I think he is a great player and a lot of colleges are missing the boat on him, he's not your typical kid."

The Eagles (10-4) have won four of their last five games and will play Strong Rock Christian High School Jan. 18 at home.