Laney teams
trip Gators

WILMINGTON - The East Columbus High boys and girls basketball teams both dropped games to the host Laney Buccaneers Monday night.

The East Columbus girls squad suffered its first loss of the season, bowing to the Laney Bucs 45-41 after holding a 30-20 halftime lead.

Shatara Jackson scored 23 points to pace the Lady Bucs’ comeback victory while T.T. Bennett led ECHS with 23.

Coach Karlyn Stephens’ East Columbus girls, who had defeated the Laney team in their earlier meeting, also got a 10-point effort by Tabitha Moore.

“Laney changed up its defense at the half and started putting more pressure on the ball,” Stephens said. “It wasn’t that we were turning the ball over as much as it was not getting our shots to fall.”

The loss put the Lady Gator record at 6-1.

The East Columbus boys team saw its record dip to 2-5 in an 82-67 loss.

The two teams were deadlocked at 36 at the half before the Bucs pulled away in the final two quarters.

D.J. Darnell scored 25 points to spark Laney, followed by Jermaine Emmanuel with 19 and Antoine Bastion with 16.

East Columbus’ C.J. Ganus scored 22 points, including five 3-point goals. Michael Campbell had 13 and B.J. Bracey contributed 10.

“Laney has a lot of talent and depth,” said ECHS coach Clarence Ganus. “We did a good job in the first half, but Laney had a couple of real strong runs in the second half to get the momentum.

“We’re getting better,” Ganus said.

East Columbus will open Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference play on Dec. 18 when they play host to South Brunswick.

The East Columbus boys team is the two-time defending Waccamaw Conference champion.

GIRLS GAME

EAST COLUMBUS (41): Bennett 23, Young 4, Moore 10, Bracey 2, Edwards 2.

LANEY (44): Jackson 23, Truesdale 7, Stillwell 3, Johnson 4, Baker 8.

BOYS GAME

EAST COLUMBUS (67): Ganus 22, Bracey 10, Campbell 13, Fields 6, Bowen 9, Hazel 2, Moore 2.

LANEY (82): Lynch 5, Bastion 16, Rice 2, Easter 2, Emmanuel 19, Matthews 3, Darnell 25, Simpson 6, Gregory 4.