Alcovy and Newton boys' and girls' basketball took the floor at Alcovy High School on Tuesday evening and both Newton teams handled their county rival with ease to begin region play. The Lady Rams outlasted a fourth-quarter push by Alcovy to win 58-41 and the boys never took their foot off the gas in a 88-41 beatdown.

The girls started things off, as Newton broke a 2-2 tie using a trap defense and getting out in transition, scoring with ease. The Lady Tigers would end the first period down 21-4 with Tierra Hodges and Quantasia Perry scoring their only baskets while Newton was led by 10 points from Alexcia Chatman plus five points from Imani Broadnax and four from Erianna Card with Jurnee Smith adding the final two.

Alcovy was able to play Newton even for the rest of the contest and drew within 10 points before the Lady Rams finished the game on a 11-4 run. Hodges, who scored 16 points in the second half including 10 in the fourth, finished with a game-high of 20 points.

Chatman led Newton with 15 points and Kalia Smith was next in line with 12.

The Newton boys got off to a lighting quick start and never looked back.

Ashton Hagans found Deandrae Butler underneath the basket with a nice pass for the And-1to give Newton an 8-4 lead. Hagans found JD Notae for three and Newton was quickly up 18-6 in the first quarter.

An alley-oop from Jaquan Sims to Notae that excited the crowd – even the Alcovy fans – gave Newton a 22-10 lead. The Rams ended the first quarter up 27-12. The Rams went into halftime up 51-24 and that was pretty much all she wrote, though Alcovy’s Shaquille Brown had an electrifying dunk in the third quarter that he was able to finish with a foul.

Newton held Alcovy to four points in the fourth quarter and walked away with the 88-41 win.

Notae led Newton with 22 points, followed by Simms with 13 and Hagans with 10. No Alcovy player scored in double figures.