Hawkins basketball teams

HAWKINS — Hawkins’ basketball teams both scored 65 points to open the Hawkins Holiday Hoops Tournament with victories on Thursday.

The Lady Hawks opened the night with a 65-14 rout of Queen City behind 22 points, 10 steals, nine rebounds and eight assists from Taetum Smith.

It was more than six minutes into the game before Queen City attempted a field goal, recording 18 turnovers in that span. The first field goal attempt by the Lady Bulldogs was a 3-pointer by Paitynn Weeks, which was rebounded for a putback by Ruby McCasland to cut the score to 17-3 with 1:51 left in the first quarter. Dori Sasser had made a free throw in the first two minutes of the contest for Queen City’s first point.

Hawkins led 22-3 after the first quarter.

Queen City did get 13 field goal attempts in the second quarter, but Hawkins’ dominance continued, extending to a 21-0 run and outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 16-0 in the quarter to lead 38-3 at halftime.

Hawkins opened the third quarter on a 13-0 run, making it a 34-0 stretch overall. The Lady Hawks led 55-9 after three quarters.

The Hawkins defense held Queen City to 13.8 percent (4 of 29) from the field and forced 40 turnovers.

Jentri Evans had 11 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists for Hawkins. Londyn Wilson had 10 points, five rebounds and four steals. Alaya Scoggins had 6 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Aftyn Serrano had 5 points. Haylee Skipworth had 4 points and four rebounds. Karsyn Johnson scored 4 points, and Alana Gipson added 3 points, six rebounds and four steals.

Weeks led Queen City with 5 points. Sasser, Brenna Turbeville and McCasland all had 3 points, and Sasser grabbed six rebounds.

In the nightcap, the Hawks won their first-round game over West Rusk, 65-37.

Hawkins got up 9-3 after an and-one dunk by Derek Hollman, who left the game after his free-throw attempt. He played briefly in the second half, but played about five minutes total.

The Hawks stretched their lead to 14-4 on a Brayden Givens triple and led 17-8 after the first quarter.

Hawkins scored another 17 points in the second quarter to lead 34-17 at the break. A 32-8 third quarter extended the Hawkins lead to 56-25 after three quarters.

“It’s huge,” Hawkins head boys basketball coach Ty Davis said about his team’s performance. “To come out of the break and you haven’t seen the kids for six or seven days and you expect them to play a basketball game with no game plan or nothing like that, it’s kind of hard, especially with the five-day lockdown of the gym. To get a win like we did and play as good as we did, especially losing a starter in the first three or four minutes of the game, to come together and get a win after the Christmas break is huge.”

The Hawks are now 16-2 this season and ranked No. 9 in the state by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches.

“We are trying to get them in the mindset of making it to San Antonio,” Davis said. “Every team should have that goal, and we have a really realistic chance of making it down there. Each day is a new goal, and we’ve got to attack it if we want to make it to San Antonio. You have to have some kind of luck, but it also takes a lot of preparation and the right mindset. I’m just trying to keep them locked in. I’ve got a group of seniors that I’ve had for three years now, and our goal has been to make it to San Antonio at least one of these three years, and this is the third year, so we’re trying to do our best to get down there.”

Eli Smith led Hawkins with 13 points, seven rebounds, five steals and two blocks. Givens had 10 points, seven rebounds, five steals and three assists. Derein Hollman had 10 points and six rebounds. Eli Snider had 9 points and 11 rebounds.

Other scorers for the Hawks were Riggin Smith 8; Larry Moungle 7; Gavin Smith 4; Damarion Burt 2; and Derek Hollman 2. Burt also had five rebounds.

Marcus Castillo led West Rusk with 20 points and five rebounds. Kameron brown had 7 points, five rebounds and three assists. Other scorers were Kemontrea McGregor 4; Tucker Heathcoat 3; Max Carillo 2; and Tristan Castillo 1. Axel Sipes grabbed five rebounds.

Other boys scores on Thursday were Tyler Legacy JV 66, Lindale 53; East Texas HomeSchool 68, Harmony 36; and Carthage 64, Hughes Springs 47.

Other girls scores on Thursday were Tyler HEAT 44, Harmony 20; Grace Community 35, Cumberland Academy 31; and Tyler HEAT 35, Springs Hill 31.