Carolina Forest girls unable to keep up with Sumter

What a difference a few nights can make.

Fresh off her team’s most dominant performance of the season, Carolina Forest girls basketball coach Stacy Hughes was eager to see how her team would fare against top-notch competition.

Unfortunately, despite whatever tactics the Panthers coach sought to employ Tuesday night, Sumter was always a step ahead.

The Gamecocks left no question as to who was the more dominant team in the gym, quickly pouncing on Carolina Forest and not letting up en route to a 65-39 win.

Sumter led the contest from start to finish, once leading by as many as 38 points, much to Hughes’ chagrin.

“It was certainly a frustrating night for us,” she said. “Coming off a game in which we came out the gate with good ball movement and flying all over the floor, in this one we didn’t have any of that energy.”

From the opening tip, Sumter asserted its dominance – particularly senior guard Jessica Harris, who knocked down a 3-pointer on the team’s first possession. Moments later, she would steal an errant Carolina Forest pass and cruise to the basket for a layup.

By the end of the first period, Harris had nine points en route to leading the Gamecocks to a 20-5 lead.

The lead would only grow in the second, Harris being joined by the rest of her teammates in allowing them to head to intermission up 47-12.

“We knew they were a young team, and we certainly wanted to use our experience to jump on them early,” said Sumter girls basketball coach Jason Loudenslager. “Knocking down that first shot was big for us, especially knowing that getting out the gates strong has been something we’ve had trouble with. So getting off to a solid start was big for us, and everything else fell into place.”

Harris finished with a game-high 21 points, while teammate D’ericka Hamilton finished with 14 points. Following a breakout night Friday against South Florence, Carolina Forest’s Ella Nardella was largely held in check against Sumter, limited to 14 points.

According to Hughes, her team must show more want-to if it wants to be successful.

“I knew (Sumter) was going to be good, but we cannot play scared either,” she said. “We must take care of ourselves. We’ve been trying to get a toughness factor instilled in our kids, but right now we’re too up and down for my liking. If we want to do anything in this region, we cannot continue to fight against ourselves.”

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 10:53 PM with the headline "Carolina Forest girls unable to keep up with Sumter."