Chapel Hill’s Carneecia Johnson.

NEW CHAPEL HILL — It was a Chapel Hill sweep on Tuesday night, and both teams had a player come off the bench to lead the way in scoring.

To start the night, Carneecia Johnson provided 23 points, eight steals and five rebounds in her reserve roll to lead the Lady Bulldogs to a 57-52 win over Center.

In the nightcap, Isiah Mayfield had 19 points and 13 rebounds off of the bench to help the No. 25 Bulldogs open District 17-4A play with a key 73-61 victory against Center.

While it was just the district opener for the boys, Chapel Hill and Center are the projected top finishers in the district, so a home win to start could prove beneficial come February.

The Roughriders shots 14 free throws in the first quarter, making five, as Chapel Hill held a 12-11 lead at the end of the quarter.

The Bulldogs had a couple of highlights in the first quarter. Jorden Ford tossed a deep lob to Cameron Kelley, who went up high to throw it down for the dunk. Later in the quarter, a Trevor Brooks 3-point attempt came off of the rim, and Jayvin Mayfield skied in for the putback jam.

Chapel Hill built a 22-14 lead in the second quarter, but Center ended the quarter on a 10-2 run, capped by a three off of the glass by TJ Belin at the buzzer to tie the score at 24 at halftime.

The Bulldogs and Roughriders stayed neck-and-neck for a large portion of the third quarter with Chapel Hill leading 39-38. The Bulldogs went on a 9-4 spurt in the final 1:33 to lead 48-42 heading to the fourth.

With the score at 60-55 with 3:04 to play following a Tim Johnson floater, Chapel Hill answered with a 9-0 run, which included a steal and dunk by Kelley, who got another slam with 53 seconds remaining on the assist by Mayfield to stretch the lead to 16.

Kelley finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks. Other scorers for the Bulldogs were Brooks 9; Demetrius Brisbon 7; Mayfield, Ford and Jordyn Bradshaw 6; Andrew Snoddy 4; and Malik Gee 2. Ford had seven steals, and Mayfield had five assists and five steals.

Johnson led Center with 18 points, seven rebounds and six steals. Emonte “Cash” Cross had 17 points, three blocks and five steals, and Belin added 13 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Jimmarion Smith had 7 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.

Chapel Hill (11-2, 1-0) will compete in the Houston County Holiday Hoops Tournament Dec. 28. Center (6-6, 0-1) will play in the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Tournament beginning Dec. 28.

In the girls’ game, Chapel Hill fell down 9-2 quick and trailed 20-10 after the first quarter.

Then the Lady Bulldogs got a spark in the form of Johnson. She had 13 points and four steals in the second quarter to help Chapel Hill rally to take a 27-26 halftime lead.

The score was 39-36 heading into the fourth quarter in favor of Chapel Hill.

Chapel Hill led 53-46 with just more than a minute to play when Center got consecutive 3-pointers from Journee Smith and Lanaihja May Johnson to cut the score to 53-52 with 48 seconds left.

Center then had a chance to take the lead but turned the ball over, and Carneecia Johnson turned it into a layup. Center then had a chance to tie, but another turnover ended in a Aryssa Cooper putback to end the game.

Freshman Ayana McGill Gardner had 12 points, six rebounds and four steals for Chapel Hill. Kiyah Miner scored 11. Other scorers were Cooper 6; Kaiden Kelley 4; and R’Nyah Tomlinson 1. Cooper added four steals.

Lanaijha May Johnson had 21 points, 17 rebounds, three blocks and three steals for Center (14-7, 1-1), and Smith added 10 points.

Chapel Hill (13-9, 3-0) is off until it hosts LaPoynor on Jan. 2, 2024.