SPARTANBURG – The Sims Middle School Tigers traveled to McCracken Middle School on Thursday night, looking to stay in first place in the Peach Tree Conference.

The Tigers didn’t start how they were expecting as McCracken utilized a 2-3 zone and the Tigers had trouble scoring the ball in the first half.

The Tigers stalled on offense for the first half and only managed to put 1 point on the board through halftime. Despite scoring only 1 point, the Tigers were only down by 13 at the half.

The second half proved to be a little better for the Tigers, but not good enough to mount the comeback. McCracken outlasted the Tigers with a final score of 23-12. The loss puts Sims at 1-1 in the Peach Tree Conference.

“Tonight was just one of those nights where nothing seemed to go right for us,” Coach Cam Willis said after the game. “We didn’t really take care of the ball at all in the first half and we put ourselves in a bad spot. Some of it was expected, but some of it was just us being careless with the basketball. We are going to take the positives from the second half and build on those as we move forward. There is still a lot of season left to play.”

Sims travels to D.R. Hill Middle School in Lyman on Monday for a Peach Tree Conference game.

Sims girls routed by Eagles

The Sims girls also traveled to McCracken Middle School on Thursday and were the victims of a 49-14 rout.

The McCracken Eagles opened up a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and were cruising 26-5 at the half.

“We couldn’t match up with their obvious height advantage, but we certainly could have played better as a team,” Coach Kenny Harris said. “We continue to have shooting problems and on defense containing drives to the basket. However, our free-throw shooting continues to improve. Brooke (Smith) is now 11 for 15 over the past three games.”

The Tigers were led in scoring by Smith, who had 8 points, going 4 for 4 from the free-throw line. Ashley Vinson had the only 3-point shot of the game, Samiya Wood scored 2 points, and Alexis Beatty had one free throw.

The Tigers are now 1-4 for the season and travel to D.R. Hill Middle School in Lyman on Monday.