Wakefield girls basketball
Wakefield senior Kayla Harris (30) dropped 29 points in Wednesday's 75-58 win over Clayton.
Harris, Wakefield clip Comets
Powered by seniors Kayla Harris and Brittany Christian, who scored 29 and 22 points, respectively, as well as a 13-2 first-quarter run, the Wakefield girls basketball team notched a 75-58 victory over visiting Clayton Wednesday night.
While the Lady Wolverines were forced to squash the Comets' third-quarter run, which reduced Wakefield's 20-point halftime lead to just eight points, the squad pulled out a convincing victory on opening night.
Harris, a recent University of South Carolina Aiken commit, provided the Lady Wolverines with consistent offense, scoring six or more points in each of the contest's four quarters. The senior also pulled down 16 rebounds.
"She had a very good stat line," Wakefield head coach Danielle Blackburn said.
Christian played her best in the game's most crucial moments, scoring 12 points in the third quarter, deflating the Comets' 13-2 second-half push.
In one 10-second span, the guard singlehandedly crushed Clayton's momentum, answering a Comet three-pointer with a trey of her own. Then Christian slipped in to steal a Clayton in-bounds pass and converted a lay-up.
The five-point swing pushed Wakefield's lead back up to 13 points, 51-38, with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Comets never drew within single digits the rest of the game.
"Brittany really had a couple good stretches," Blackburn said. "She really stepped up hitting that three and stealing the ball, and adding the lay-up.
"To get a win against a good team, we're pretty happy right now."
Behind Harris and Christian, Alex Friedl added seven points, Lauren Hudson tacked on six and Jessica Collins finished with five.
Clayton's Marnikka Young scored 19 points, and teammate Vanessa Hinnant added 12. Young scored 11 of her 19 in the third quarter as the Comets made their strongest push.
Although the Lady Wolverines shined during several key moments Wednesday, especially during their first-quarter run, Blackburn wants to see her squad iron out some kinks.
"We didn't do as well as defensively as we would have liked," she said. "We did some things you kind of expect in the first game. We had a lot of unforced turnovers.
"We had some good spurts. But we just didn't play as well as we would have hoped. We have some inexperienced players and some young players and we just have to work through it."
The Lady Wolverines (1-0) hit the hardwood Friday (Nov. 20), hosting Holly Springs at 7 p.m. Wakefield also hosts Knightdale Monday at 7 p.m.
Wakefield senior Kayla Fisher (20) races up the court in Wednesday's opening-night win.
