The 2023 regular season tipped-off last night in Boyd Woody Gymnasium as the Midway played host to the Wildcats of Sweetwater. The Lady Wave would get the opening win (57-48). Despite a solid 3 quarters of play from Midway in the boy’s game, Sweetwater would pull away in the 4th to get the dub (47-61).
Due to plans to host Thanksgiving at SORSN headquarters, home chores forced us to arrive late to the game. Upon arrival, we found the Lady Wave ahead of Sweetwater 34-26. Sweetwater didn’t have an answer for Kyleigh Cawood. The Kid would lead the way with 16 first half points to give the Lady Wave an 8-point lead at the half. After the break, The Kid continued to slice & dice her way through the Wild Cat defense – scoring her 20th point with 4 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter to extend the lead to 44-30.
With a semi-comfortable lead in the fourth, the Lady Wave started to milk the clock however, the Wild Cats were not ready to roll over. Taking advantage of the fact that it took an arm-bar or rear naked choke hold to draw a whistle, the Wild Cats clawed, pushed and shoved their way back into the game cutting it down to a 6-point deficit with 2 minutes remaining in the game. But ball control from Abbie Parks and key buckets and rebounds from Cloa Copeland and Addie Armes down the stretch helped to hold off the Sweetwater charge. Lady Waves would get the win, 57-48.
Cawood led the scoring with 29, Parks and Kali Kile each added 8.
The boys would then take the stage with a good test against a solid Sweetwater team. The Wave jumped out early thanks to buckets from Dalton Cowell and Evan Lemons, along with a pair of 3-pointers from Brennan Reed and Peyton Steele. Sweetwater had size and solid shooting, but the Waves played smart and took care of the ball early and led 17-16 after the opening quarter. It would be early in the second quarter when Sweetwater would take their first lead of the game, however it didn’t last long. Reed added 8 points in the quarter to give Midway the 27-25 lead at the half. The Wave would have another solid performance in the 3rd however, Sweetwater’s Chris Alford became hard to stop as he would go for 12 of his 36 points in the third quarter to give the Wild Cats a 43-41 lead.
The 4th quarter was the Achilles heel for the Waves. Turnovers (charge!) started to (charge!) stack up and the boys were (charge!) unable to knock down (charge!) some shots, scoring (charge!) only 6 points in (charge!) the final quarter. The Waves were forced to send the Wild Cats to the free throw line where Sweetwater continued to extend their lead. The game was much closer than the final score (47-61) reflected.
Reed would lead the scoring for Midway with 19 followed by Dalton Cowell with 12. Peyton Steele and Evan Lemons each added 7. The defensive juggernaut, Brylle Villagonza, had 2.
Midway travels to Tellico Plains today (Tuesday) for the remaining game before the Thanksgiving break.