Senath-Hornersville celebrates senior night against Campbell

The success of any organization or team relies heavily upon its experienced members. Whether it be a business, a school or a sport team, having good, talented leaders at the top is hugely important. Any high school coach will tell you that senior leadership is crucial to a team’s success.

Tuesday night at Senath was Senior Night, a night to honor the senior leaders of SHHS that have been contributing their time and talents to the cheerleading squad and basketball teams for several years.  With a full slate of games scheduled it looked to be a great night of Lion basketball.

Senath-Hornersville senior athletes are honored on Senior Night against Campbell on Tuesday.Photo by John Wheeler

After a boy's JV game, which saw a win for the JV Lions over the visiting Campbell Camels 56-37, the seniors were honored with a ceremony prior to the varsity girl’s and boy’s games and then the court was set, giving seniors and their teams a chance to proudly represent the Lions.

First action was the Lady Lions versus the Lady Camels. On paper, the two teams looked evenly matched.  The Lady Lions brought a 3-9 record into Tuesday’s game- Cambell’s girls a 5-10 record.  Similar points per game (40.3 vs 37), similar points allowed (46.3 vs 56.2) and the same record against similar opponents. And this theme of being evenly matched would carry through the entire game.  Headed into the 4th quarter, the Lions held a six-point lead that would vanish near the 5-minute mark and, with momentum swinging back and forth, regulation ended in a tie 56 all.

Senath-Hornersville's Jada Burlison goes for a basket during a game against Campbell.Photo by John Wheeler

OT was not kind to the home team as the Lady Camels took the victory 69-63 but the effort and execution by the Lions, and especially their senior leaders, was great to watch.

The last game of the night also pitted the Lions against the Camels. And again, on paper, the matchup looked to be nearly even.  The Camels took a hard fought four-point lead into the locker room at halftime and the possibility of more overtime action seemed possible.  But it was not to be. A relentless full court press by the Camels in the second half, coupled with shooting struggles for the Lions, resulted in a seemingly lopsided 74-55 victory for the visitors.  However again, the senior leaders and, in fact, the entire team battled until the end.

Scoring statistics for each contest were as follows: 

Campbell JV had eight players with points with #14 Drew Fowler leading with nine and #24 Caiden Mayberry adding eight.  SHHS JV split scoring between four players. #11 Gerardo Castillo, #41 Jamerius White, #1 Cade Sawyer and #13 Todd Green scored 20, 15, 14, and 7, respectively to account for all Lion points.

Scoring for the Lady Camels was dominated by #2 Mabrey Patrick who had a career high 35 for the Camels while the Lions were led by #21 Jada Burlison whose hot hand from beyond the stripe resulted in a 30-point night. 

In the varsity boys' game, scoring for the Camels was primarily from # 5 Sam Bunting who contributed 32 while #33 Tanner Smart added 22.  Lion varsity scoring was led by #45 Amador Luna with 13, #35 Noah Rhodes with 12 and #21 Mason Williams with 10.