In a battle for sole possession of first place in the Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference girls race Tuesday, the Whiteville Lady Wolfpack took a 64-54 victory over visiting Pender behind junior forward Paige McCallum’s 32 points.

The WHS girls squad bounced back to defeat the Lady Patriot squad after suffering its first conference loss in two years to East Columbus last Friday.

Whiteville, with starting point guard Talena Faison still sidelined with a severe ankle injury, also got 12 points from Portia Baldwin (10 in the final quarter) and 11 from Sarah Gore. WHS connected on 15 of 17 attempts from the foul line and hit all seven of its free throw attempts in the fourth quarter. The Lady Wolfpack tallied 27 points in the final eight minutes to overcome Pender’s three-point lead at the end of the third quarter.

Coach Dudley Revels’ Lady Wolfpack now holds a 6-1 record in conference play and a 15-2 season record.

Pender scorers were led by Janetta Robinson with 25 points and Muriel Seabrooks with 13. The loss dropped the Lady Patriots to 5-2 in the conference standings.

Pender won the boys game 58-52, overcoming a 29-22 halftime lead by Whiteville.

Harvey led Pender scorers with 18 points, followed by Branch with 12 and Hankins with 10. The Patriots outscored the Wolfpack 17-9 in the final quarter to claim the win and put their conference record at 5-2.

Nur Abudullah scored a game-high 19 points for Whiteville, followed by Aaron Clark with 11.

The WHS boys team is now 1-6 in Waccamaw Conference play and 3-12 for the season.

Whiteville will play tonight at South Columbus and it will entertain South Brunswick on Friday.

GIRLS GAME

PENDER (54): Holmes 9, Seabrooks 13, Robinson 25, Graham 5, McAllister 2.
WHITEVILLE (65): Gore 11, Turner 2, Claridy 8, McCallum 32, Baldwin 12.

BOYS GAME

PENDER (52): Blanks 5, Hankins 10, Harvey 18, Branch 12, Johnson 5, Carter 8.
WHITEVILLE (58): Clark 11, Grant 6, Mahoney 8, Abdullah 19, Jordan 2, Royal 6.