Holcomb boys, girls basketball teams win big on senior night

Holcomb settled in for a “grind” of a night of basketball Tuesday on the Hornets' senior night against Bloomfield. After around five hours of intensely competitive games, ceremonies and bittersweet recognitions, Holcomb came out on top of both boys and girls games 51-38 and 61-20, respectively.

“These seniors mean a lot to me,” Holcomb boys basketball head coach Michael Snider said. “They're the first group that I've had from freshmen all the way up, so they hold a special place in my heart. They've been here through it all, and they've seen the ups and the downs.”

“Their work ethic, their consistency, and them growing and learning what I want for our program, you just can't beat it,” he continued. “They're phenomenal kids, each and every one of them. They mean a lot for what we've done here and what we've built here, and honestly we couldn't have done it without them.”

__Boys Varsity__

Bloomfield (4-18) made it clear that they wouldn't roll over easily for Holcomb (13-11) to pick up their senior night win, however. Stuck in a frantic tempo starting the first quarter and tied halfway through, a three-pointer thrown in by Bloomfield's Hunter Moore led the Wildcats to a 14-8 lead.

“We've got to settle down sometimes,” Snider said. “Sometimes we want to be heroes and then become zeros. There's a beauty in basketball of just making simple plays and playing simple basketball. Once we do settle down and play simple basketball, we end up looking really good at times.”

“After the first quarter we were down,” Snider continued, “So you just look at your seniors on senior night and say, 'guys, somebody has to step up.'”

Bloomfield's Lucas Dowdy lines up a free throw in the first half of Tuesday night's game against Holcomb.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

The visitors' advantage was short-lived, as Holcomb senior Braiden Burk stepped up and put in a three-pointer of his own to open the second quarter and quickly followed it up with a midrange jumper. After another Burk three, and a picked off pass by Payton McNabb passed to Burk for the layup, Holcomb tied the game 18-18.

With more back-and-forth, the Hornets' Landon Smith put in a layup just before the buzzer to lead 25-24 at halftime.

“Braiden stepped up and made ten huge points in the second quarter, and he's the guy who kind of settled us down,” Snider said. “We rebounded the crap out of the ball, and that's what you have to do when you get in a game that's going to be a grind. You have to rebound and take care of it, and we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”

Bloomfield's Lucas Dowdy put in a layup to open the second half and immediately retake the lead for the Wildcats. At the end of a strikingly low-scoring third quarter, Holcomb outscored Bloomfield just six to four to lead 31-28.

The Hornets, in particular junior Jacob Reeves-Crittendon, were perhaps just warming up for their fourth quarter onslaught.

Payton McNabb kicked off the fourth quarter with a three-pointer and Bryce McNabb put in another soon after to extend the Hornets' lead to nine points. Reeves-Crittendon scored two three-pointers midway through the fourth quarter in plays that, arguably, put the game out of arms reach for the Wildcats.

Holcomb's Jacob Reeves-Crittendon lines up a three-pointer during the Hornets' senior night game against Bloomfield.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

With a brief flurry of free throws, Holcomb won 51-38.

“I thought tonight was a grind, and we knew it would going in,” Snider said. “Bloomfield plays really good defense, and Coach Kieth does a really good job of that. They're always tough as nails, and I thought it would just be who can make tough shots in big moments. Once we settled down, we did some great things on offense especially late in the third quarter and in the fourth quarter when we kind of had our run.”

The Holcomb boys basketball team had most recently fallen to Cooter in the Tri-County Conference championship game. The Hornets travel to Malden (14-8) Thursday and to Chaffee (9-14) Friday.

__Girls Varsity__

While the Holcomb girls basketball team's (15-9) late night matchup against Bloomfield (8-14) may have been somewhat of a grind as well, the Lady Hornets dominated the court from the very start and showed no signs of wavering until the final buzzer in their staggering 61-20 victory over the Wildcats.

“I thought we played extremely good,” Holcomb girls basketball head coach Alexa Stockton said. “Sometimes we come out slow against teams that are not our rival, but I felt like we came out hard. We were missing Maleigh Lemings, who is one of our starters, but our girls adjusted great to it and played a fast pace.”

Bloomfield won the tip and scored first in the game, but Holcomb went on a 13-point rampage of three-pointers and stolen passes right after. Back-to-back three pointers by Holcomb's Chloe Hendrix and Ava Gurley netted the Hornets a 25-7 advantage after the first quarter.

Holcomb's Chloe Hendrix (4) attempts a layup in the Lady Hornets' senior night game against Bloomfield Tuesday night.Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

“We had a lot more three's tonight, and that was good to see,” Stockton said. “We've had a little bit of a break so it was good to see that we still have it. I felt like Chloe Hendrix showed out tonight. As a group, and Libbey as a senior, we played really, really well.”

The second quarter transpired similarly as Bloomfield struck first but Holcomb's high intensity and high tempo play proved to be too much to handle.

Up 29-11 with just under four minutes to go until halftime, Holcomb went on to score six unanswered points before Bloomfield found the net again. A final free throw by Holcomb's Gabi Harmon gave the Hornets a 36-14 lead at halftime.

Holcomb's wildly productive third quarter commenced with an offensive rebound-turned-layup by senior Libbey Callis. After some exchanging of points, another Hendrix three-pointer took the Hornets to a 45-18 advantage. Another Hendrix three broke the 50-point threshold and a layup by Landynn Hodges took Holcomb to a 61-20 victory.

“Typically, we don't play super fast-paced,” Stockton said. “Then sometimes we end up slowing people down depending on who we're playing. But tonight we got to play extremely fast and I think the girls had a lot of fun with it.”

Holcomb girls have now won their last nine games and took first place in the Bootheel Conference championship in that time. Next, the Lady Hornets host Twin Rivers (8-12) Thursday before kicking off the Class 2 District 1 tournament next week.