MINT HILL, NC – The Queen’s Grant Stallions defeated a conference rival Bradford Prep 63-50 on Friday night at Carolina Courts in Indian Trail. The 1A Division Stallions continue to win the games they must to have a successful season. Their goal is to compete for the top spot within the conference and become a legitimate contender in the region. They are now 8-3 overall, and 2-1 in their conference as we enter the holidays and the end of 2021.
In the first half, the Stallions took control of the basketball game right from the tipoff. Elijah Rector began the scoring when he hit a nice jumper just inside the paint to give the home team a good start. Queen’s Grant continued to maintain a fast pace, an up beat tempo putting pressure on the Bears forcing some key turnovers. The first period ended with the Stallions ahead 15-11. The home team widened the gap in the second period when they went on an 11-2 run, with Conner Leach swishing a 3-pointer, Lourell Covington adding 5 points, Parker Burke, Cyrus Faherty, and Jaidyn Covington all contributing 4 points each giving the Stallions a commanding 35-18 edge at the intermission.
In the second half, the Bears played better hitting a higher percentage of shots and tightened their defensive effort. They were able to close the gap to 13 points separating the two teams, but never seriously mounted a comeback threat as the Stallions kept pace and maintained the advantage they built during the first half of competition.
This victory was a team effort by the Stallions who had a balanced attack. Jaidyn Covington led the scoring tonight with 11 points, followed by 9 from Connor Leach all 3-pointers, Burke 9, Faherty 8, team-leading scorer Lourell Covington (15.1 points per game) contributed 8, Rector 7, Kareem Weaver 6, and Keion Adams 5 points to round off the scoring.
The Stallions next scheduled game will be away on Tuesday, January 4 at Cabarrus Charter. Their next home game will be on Friday, January 7 at 7:00 pm when they host Sugar Creek. The remainder of the season is going to be interesting to watch how this team develops and matures if they keep up their winning ways as expected. This could be an interesting season, and they will have a non-conference test when they visit the Panthers a 4A school program at Providence in late January.
