MINT HILL, NC – On Friday night the Independence basketball teams hosted the East Mecklenburg Eagles for their home opener.

After Wednesday’s night loss to Hickory Ridge, the Lady Patriots bounced back to take a conference win over the Lady Eagles 93-14 and improved their record to 1-1Indy’s Jessica Timmons led the Lady Patriots with 25 points.  Kaylee Carson poured in 16 points.  Braylyn Milton added 15 points.  Chloe Moss scored 12 points. Averie DiBenedetto hit for 11 points,  Midori Walkup 3 points, Tamia Burgess 2 points, and Trinity Benjamin finished the scoring with 2 points. After the Lady Patriots took an early first-quarter lead, they never looked back.  The Lady Patriots outscored East Meck 33-3 in the first quarter to set the stage for the rest of the game.

East Mecklenburg    3     4     5       2 – 14

Independence         33   17   22    21 –  93

Men’s Basketball-

In the nightcap, the Patriots jumped out to a 29-15 first lead and took a 52-31 half time lead.  In the second half Indy outscored the Eagles 33-13 to take an 85-44 home win over the Eagles.  Coach Davis cleared his bench as his Patriots went on to improve to 2-0.

Jalen Hinton led the Patriots with 15 points.  Landon King poured in 13 points, Tachai Miller added 11 points, Divine Allah 10 points.  Tachai Miller and Ralph Johnson had 8 points each.  Reginald Smith and Camren Little added 7 points each.  Zaire May scored 6 points. Amir Davenport scored 5 points.  Isaiah Thomas had 4 points and Isaiah Thomas finished the scoring with 2 points.

East Mecklenburg 15  16  10  3 – 44

Independence       29  23  25  8 – 85