Falcons Nest - January 20

Lulu Brase, Assistant Athletic Director
The Falcons celebrated senior night for Varsity Swimming this week honoring seniors Kevin Klenzak and Daniel Wray for all their contributions to the swim program!
Varsity Swimming
The Falcons participated in their last home meet of the season this past Tuesday. Prior to the meet, the Falcons honored their two senior swimmers – Daniel Wray and Kevin Klenzak.
 
The girls' team is looking strong going into the Tri-TAC conference meet which is on January 30th at the Triangle Aquatics Center. The women were 2nd to Marlins of Moore 48-43 and won the meet against Grace of Sanford 72-11. Distance swimmers Malia Stone and Ava Taylor Walker had stand-out swims in the 500 freestyle event.
 
The boys' team had an excellent final home meet against Marlins of Moore, St. David’s, and Grace of Sanford. The boys' team beat Marlins of Moore 44-40 and Grace of Sanford 55-15 and lost to St. David’s 48-38. Simeon Morin had an excellent meet qualifying for the state meet in the 200 free and 100 free.
Varsity Girls Basketball
  • At Freedom Christian 68-25 (W)
The Falcons took a break from conference play this week to travel to Freedom Christian Tuesday afternoon. Stifling pressure and half-court trapping saw the Falcons jump out to a 25-8 first-quarter lead. All in uniform saw extended minutes, as the Falcons used their depth to outpace some early foul trouble and head into the halftime locker room up 38-16. The second half saw continued dominance for the Falcon who finished out the contest winning 68-25 moving to 17-2 on the season and sitting comfortably at 3rd in the NCISAA 2A MaxPreps rankings.

The Falcons were led in scoring by Ashanti Fox (27 points). A balanced scoring attack rounded out the scoresheet – Kennedy Moore (9 points), Reily Johnson (9 points), Ava Vonderkall (7 points), Tamiya Judd (6 points), Brooklyn Adams (6 points), and Clara Tanner (4 points).

Friday night the Falcons will travel to Salem Baptist for a Tri TAC conference match-up tipping off at 5pm.
Varsity Boys Basketball
  • Vs Freedom Christian 34-83 (L) 
  • Vs Cary Christian 46-66 (L) 
 
The Falcons started the week off on the road Monday at Freedom Christian Academy. The Falcons started the game strong with some good defense and making key plays on offense. Nick Joyce (12pts, 10rbs) had his best game of the season trying to keep the Falcons in the game. Eventually, turnovers really hurt the Falcons and an experienced Freedom team was able to pull away. Leading the Falcons in points was Malachy White (18pts, 4rebs, 3ast). Also contributing were Gavin Rabon (2pts, 4rebs), Holt Neville (2pts, 2ast)   
The Falcons hosted Cary Christian on Wednesday night. The Falcons came out the gates strong playing well on the offensive side of the ball during the first half of the game. The second half of the game went well for the Falcons, but Cary Christian hit some key shots to extend their lead. Leading the Falcons in points was Malachy White (11 pts, 9 rebs). Contributing to the action was Dakota Bender (10 pts, 5 rebs), Nick Joyce (6 pts, 4 rebs), Brennan Hodges (6 pts, 2 rebs, 2 stls), Will Slagle (5 pts, 2 rebs), Holt Neville (2 pts, 2 ast), Gavin Rabon (2pts, 2 rebs).  
The Falcons will return to action on Friday, January 20th on the road against Salem Baptist Christion School. 
JV Boys Basketball
  •  January 17th vs Freedom Christian Academy – 49-63 (L)
  •  January 18th vs Cary Christian – 37-64 (L)
The Falcons opened the week on the road against Freedom Christian Academy on Tuesday, January 17th. The Falcons got off to a slow start in the first half, trailing by as much as 17 points in the second quarter. The Falcons fought hard to end the second quarter going on a 10-0 run to close the gap to 7 points at halftime. This game would go back and forth as Freedom would pull away in the final two minutes to defeat the Falcons 63-49.

The Falcons hosted Cary Christian on Wednesday, January 18th at home. The Falcons competed hard this game and found success scoring on the inside but fell short to Cary Christian for a final score of 37-64.
MS Boys Basketball A Team
The MS Boys' basketball team had a tough week with six straight days and three games of basketball.  The first contest was against neighboring school Sandhills Classical Christian where the boys walked away with a wide-margin victory.  The team continues to dominate defensively as well with nine out of 13 players putting points on the scoreboard.  The boys then traveled to St. David’s and struggled from tip-off until the final buzzer rang with a tough loss against a good basketball team.  The Falcons closed the week against conference play beating Berean Baptist academy 38-6.  Top point earners from the week came from Will Haarlow, Wells Kuester, Christian Lyles, Jacob Lindsey, and youngster Jackson Mullis.  The team will face conference opponents for the remaining three weeks of the season starting next week against Fayetteville Christian and St. John Paul.
MS Girls Basketball
vs. Lee Christian (away game) Friday - January 13th
The O’Neal School “B” team – 17 vs Lee Christian- 27
In their second game of the week, our Lady Falcons “B” team traveled to Sanford to take on the Lee Christian’s “A” team.  Our Lady Falcons got going quickly in this one and led 8-3 at the end of the first quarter behind Joelle Cole’s 6 first-quarter points and a bucket by Vivienne Rhue. Lee Christian would find more success on the offensive end in the second quarter, however, as they would lead the Lady Falcons 13-10 heading into halftime. Lee Christian would continue to pull away from our Lady Falcons in the second half and finished the game with a 27-17 victory. Despite not getting the result they wanted on the scoreboard, our Lady Falcons played with incredible grit and resilience and all 17 “B” team members played quality minutes and battled until the very end. Joelle Cole scored a game-high 12 points, while Vivienne Rhue (3 points), and Keelie Bosworth (2 points), also scored. 
 
vs. Sandhills Classical Christian School (home game) Tuesday - January 17th
The O’Neal School – 46 vs Sandhills Classical Christian School- 14
In their first game of the week, our Lady Falcons took on the ladies from Sandhills Classical Christian School. Behind suffocating defense and early baskets by Gianna Maheu and Lindsey Havenstein, our Lady Falcons jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead within the first minute of play, forcing Sandhills to take an early timeout. Sandhills would settle down, however, and answer with six straight points of their own, as well as a few free throws towards the end of the quarter, as the game would be knotted up, 9-9 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter would see a much tighter defensive effort by the Lady Falcons, holding Sandhills to a single basket and carrying a six-point margin into halftime, leading 17-11.  Our Lady Falcons continued their lockdown defense into the third quarter, only allowing three points, while Gianna Maheu exploded for 10 third-quarter points.  The fourth quarter would follow a similar script and the Lady Falcons cruised to a 46-14 victory. Gianna Maheu poured in a season-high 29 points in this one, while Emeli Michael (9 points), Lindsey Havenstein (2 points), Livi Afable (2 points), Ella Vonderkall (2 points), and Lillie McIntosh (2 points) also scored.  
vs. St. David's (away game) Wednesday - January 18th
The O’Neal School – 22 vs St. David's - 17
In their second game in as many days, our Lady Falcons traveled to Raleigh for a tough matchup with the Lady Warriors of St. David’s.  The Lady Falcons would be without the services of two of their defensive standouts, Sydney Davis and Chesley Lucas in this one.  As a result, sixth grader Sofie Itegie drew just her second start of the season and had the responsibility of guarding St. David’s post player and primary offensive weapon. In a game in which every possession was fiercely fought and points were rare, Sofie played nearly every minute, keeping her opponent in check and allowing her team to stay close to the Lady Warriors.  While Sofie and her Lady Falcon teammates applied defensive pressure, five Lady Falcons scored in this one.  Highlighting the scoring was a massive 3-point basket by Lillie McIntosh to cap the first quarter as well as a free throw late in the fourth quarter.  Gianna Maheu would score the final two points from the line and helped salt the win away as the Lady Falcons earned a hard-foughtt 22-17 victory.  Gianna Maheu led all scorers with 13 points while Lillie McIntosh (4 points), Emeli Michael (2 points), Lindsey Havenstein (2 points), and Callie McHarney (1 point), also scored. 
 vs. Berean Baptist (home game) Thursday - January 19th
The O’Neal School – 43 vs Berean Baptist - 20
In their third game of the week, our Lady Falcons hosted the Lady Bulldogs from Berean Baptist.  Showing a little fatigue early on from playing their third game in as many days, the Lady Falcons struggled to find the basket early, missing several close-range shots.  Then, without about two minutes left in the first quarter, Emeli Michael exploded for 8 points in about 30 seconds.  Emeli converted multiple steals into transition baskets and the Lady Falcons were off to the races from there on.  The Lady Falcons also welcomed Sydney Davis and Chesley Lucas back into the lineup for this one, putting them at “12 strong” and full strength.  The Lady Falcons were way too much for the Lady Bulldogs in this one, especially on the defensive end, only allowing the Lady Bulldogs 2 total points.  Along with incredible defensive intensity, our Lady Falcons showed amazing offensive efficiency and shared the ball extremely well as nine total Lady Falcons scored in this one and ran away with a 43-2 victory.  Emeli Michael led all scorers with 13 points while Gianna Maheu (7 points), Ella Vonderkall (5 points), Sofie Itegie (5 points), Lindsey Havenstein (3 points), Lillie McIntosh (3 points), LJ Duffy (2 points), Callie Garrison (2 points), and Livi Afable (2 points) also scored.
MS Boys Basketball B Team
The O’Neal Middle School Boys Basketball ‘B’ team had two games after returning from Christmas break.
The first game was home against local rivals Sandhills Classical Christian. In the first half, both teams played solid defense and neither team pulled away. The Falcons led by Tanner Massey and Keens Cameron with four points each the falcons took the first half 10-9. To start the third quarter the Falcons started with a full-court press and forced numerous turnovers. The Falcons converted the turnovers to points and ran out to a 23 - 9 lead to end the third quarter. It looked like smooth sailing for the Killer B’s but, SCC turned up the defensive intensity and slowly started to chip away at the Falcons' lead. As the Falcons tried to manage the clock, Sandhills managed to cut the lead to two points before the Falcons got a crucial stop on Sandhills' final possession to secure the victory.
The Killer B’s second game was against Lee Christian away. Lee Christian brought their ‘A’ game and their ‘A’ team.  LCS scored seven unanswered points to start the game and forced the Killer B’s coaching staff to call an early timeout. The timeout refocused the team and they began to force turnovers and chip away at the lead against the bigger and more experienced opponent. At half the B’s had cut the lead in half and were trailing 14-6.  In the second half with more stellar defenses, the B’s closed the gap to as little as 4 points but could not get any closer the rest of the game. The final score was 36- 23.
The Killer B’s next game is Home, January 24 at 5:15 PM vs. Trinity School of Durham

Photos by Wendy Hodges | Senior Recognition by Kathy Taylor

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