By Thomas Sellers Jr.
ARLINGTON — Experience over youth was the cast Nov. 19 in the Bolton Gymnasium. The Brighton Cardinals teams traveled to Arlington to take on the host Bolton Wildcats. In girls action, the Bolton Lady Wildcats defeated the Lady Cardinals 61-28. The second game of the night, Cardinals tested the Bolton Wildcats only trailing 37-31 at the break. But Bolton used a big third quarter outscoring Brighton 19-6 to pull away for a 71-62 victory. The girls’ game started with a fast pace. The Lady Wildcats tried to push the tempo, while Head Coach Kent Cates’ Lady Cardinals employed a full-court passing attack trying to create easy buckets. The strategy kept Brighton in the contest early. Players like Lilly Hill fired long range passes behind the Bolton defense creating baskets for Brighton players like Shayna Johnson and Kaelyn Forbes. After Forbes’ second layup made the score 13-7, the Lady Wildcats closed out the first quarter on a 11-0 run starting with a scoop shot from Destiny Arnold. The Bolton 24-7 first quarter advantage grew to 32-7 after Lady Wildcat Kayla Bolden drained a three-pointer. Brighton ended its drought with a foul shot. The Lady Cardinals closed out the first half with buckets from Johnson and Alyssa Hunt. The second half Brighton was more effective in its halfcourt sets. Cardinal forward Jada Johnson located a cutting Hunt for a layup. Later the Lady Cardinals moved the ball around the perimeter setting up a three-pointer for Shayna Johnson. Then Jada Johnson attacked the basket for a layup of her own. Brighton point guard Danielle Collins also contributed to the Lady Cardinal scoring in the second half. Cates has a roster without a single senior. For the boys, Brighton Head Coach Darryle Rogers uses mostley underclassmen. And the youthful Cardinals looked young in the first quarter falling behind 10-1. Brighton guard Tramaine Cooper scored the Cardinals’ first field goal driving to the rim to beat the Bolton press. Then Tramaine’s big brother Tyvon added a pair of free throws to make the score 10-5. The Wildcats closed out the first quarter on a 6-3 run with three-pointers from Nick Brunson and Jaylen Fisher to lead 16-8. Early in the second quarter the Wildcats opened up a double-digit advantage with buckets from several players including sophomore standout Fisher hitting an aerobic layup. When Bolton’s Raekwon Baker drove in the lane and hit a bucket the score was 23-10. That opened the door for “The Milton Hardy Show.” The Brighton forward took a pass from teammate Lorenzo Hunt to hit a basket. Moments later Hardy did it on his own driving to the rack for a layup to make the score 24-15. Then Hardy’s teammates got in the act with buckets from Hunt and Terrelwayne White to draw even closer at 29-20. Then Hardy scored Brighton’s next 8 points including a three-point play to make the score 33-28. Trebor Jackson stopped the Cardinal momentum nailing a triple to make the score 36-28. Before the first-half buzzer sounded Hunt used his left-hand stroke to hit a three-pointer to make the tally 37-31 at halftime. The Wildcats returned to their full-court press in the third quarter causing chaos for the Cardinals. Bolton was able to build a sizeable lead at 56-37 at the end of the third quarter.
Despite Brighton outscoring the Wildcats 25-15 in the fourth quarter, Bolton was able to hold on for the nine-point win.
