Nearby county rival Rockdale came to town on Friday night to face region foe Newton.

The Lady Rams started off the night with a 43-42 win over the Lady Bulldogs. Newton had led the entire way since the beginning of the second quarter, but down by eight with under four minutes to play Rockdale came storming back into the game.

Sydney Fields went to work on offense inside one minute to go with her team trailing. Fields hit a three with almost six seconds left in the game to bring the Lady Bulldogs within one point at 43-42.

Newton inbounded the ball and Rockdale fouled them quickly. After two misses from Alexcia Chatman, Nytauja Mckinnon did what she’d been doing all night and grabbed the offensive rebound. Rockdale fouled her immediately and Mckinnon went to the line, but missed both attempts. The Lady Dawgs called a timeout and tried to get one last look with 1.6 seconds left. Newton held strong defensively and the Lady Rams came away with the victory.

The boys

Newton came out sluggish and Rockdale used a strong transition game to end the first quarter with a 20-8 lead.

The Rams’ offense was off in the first quarter, as they missed a number of open shots, but they adapted and came out strong in the second.

Newton stopped settling for jumpers and started attacking the basket, before you knew it Newton had tied the game at 24. Rockdale managed to keep a 28-26 going into halftime.

The Bulldogs went on a late third quarter run and ended the period up by 11 and never looked back.

Rockdale would go up by 20 at one point during the third, before pulling the starters and going on to win 61-51.