Airpor t’s Taniqua Canzater goes up for two of her 17 points against B–C. Photos by Paulene Cruse From nearly tip off to the final buzzer, the Airport Lady Eagles controlled the Brookland–Cayce Lady Bearcats in a 46–43 win for Airport Friday, January 22. The Lady Bearcats did take the lead briefly in the second quarter, but it was Airport who had the lead for the majority of the game. Taniqua Canzater led the Lady Eagles with 17 points, while teammate Jessica Ellison chipped in with 12 points.

Canzater, Shardane Harris, and Shonta McNeal scored the first six points of the game to give Airport an early 6-0 lead. The Bearcats didn’t score until the midway point of the first quarter, but once they did they gave the Eagles a battle. Five points from Taylor Vinson and three from Asia Benn aided an 8–2 rally by the Bearcats to tie the score at 8–8. The Eagles countered with a 7–4 run that started with a big three pointer from Maya McCray giving them a 15–11 edge at the end of the first quarter.

Airport’s Shonta Mc- Neal tr ies to get a shot off against B–C. The back and forth runs between the two teams continued in the second quarter. After consecutive baskets by Canzater and Julisa Muldrow for the Eagles to extend the lead to 19–11, the Bearcats countered with nine straight points to give Brookland– Cayce its only lead of the night at 20–19. Kacie Silver scored five points in that run to give the Bearcats the lead.

Two free throws from Muldrow gave the lead back to Airport. Then Jessica Ellison took over for Airport. Ellison scored six of the final eight points for the Eagles to give Airport a 29–23 halftime lead.

After a third quarter in which Airport was able to maintain a stable lead at 37–32, Brookland–Cayce mounted a comeback in the fourth. A basket from Vinson cut the score to 40–34. Then Silver hit a three pointer on Brookland–Cayce’s next possession to trim the score to 40–37. Then Courtney Chisholm hit a basket to make it a one point game at 40–39. However, that was as close as it would get for Brookland–Cayce. A bucket from McCrary and two baskets from Canzater pushed the lead to 46–42 to help seal the win for Airport.