KNIGHTDALE - Clayton’s girls’ basketball team used a 13-4 run in the second quarter and then scored 12 of the final 18 points to stave off Knightdale 50-40 in a Greater Neuse River 4-A Conference game on Jan. 13.

The difference again for Clayton was the Comets’ tandem of point guard Latesha Williams and wing Vernessa Hinnant. Hinnant scored 19 points, including 10 in the first half and eight of her team’s 18 in the fourth, while Williams added nine points, including four crucial free throws in the fourth quarter.

“We stayed in our offense down the stretch and ran a half-court set,” said Clayton coach Marlon Lee, whose squad emerged 4-3 in the conference. “We were able to get a couple of back door layups and they had to foul us. We will take it anyway we can get it.”

Knightdale actually held an early 4-2 lead on a basket by Tennelle Jackson a minute into the game. Clayton tied it on a basket by Hinnant, and Hinnant’s block of Khadedra Taylor led to a fast-break and two free throws by Williams that gave the Comets the lead for good at 5-4 with 4:26 remaining in the first quarter.

The Knights managed just one other field goal in the last four minutes, a 3-pointer by Nicolette Neal that cut Clayton’s advantage to 12-7.

When Amber Wright scored to make it 12-9, Clayton was ahead by only three. A minute later, Knightdale trailed by two on a 3-pointer by Brittany Westmoreland with five minutes left in the half.

The Comets (4-3 GNRC, 9-3 overall) began their run with two free throws by Tajah Clark and a basket from Jasmine Dixon off a nifty pass from Williams.

Knightdale briefly stopped the run on Wright’s basket, but Clark responded with a 3-pointer to kill any momentum the Knights had. Hinnant notched a pair of baskets while Williams added one to give the visitors a 27-16 lead at the break.

Both teams had momentum swings in the third quarter. Ashley Murphy’s bucket early gave Clayton a 13-point lead, but Knightdale responded with two buckets from Lovely Locklear and two free throws by Wright cut it to 29-22. The Knights then finished the quarter on a 7-4 run – highlighted by a 3-pointer from Locklear and a basket by Wright – to pull within four at 33-29.

Though Williams and Hinnant combined for 12 turnovers, it was their ball-handling down the stretch that helped keep Knightdale at bay. Hinnant’s 3 quickly pushed the Comet lead back to nine, but back came Knightdale, as Locklear’s 3-pointer sliced the margin to four (38-34) with 3:41 remaining.

The Comets killed the home team’s momentum again when Williams found Hinnant for a 3-pointer at the 3:28 mark. Seconds later, Murphy forced a turnover, and Williams led a fast-break that resulted in a bucket by Dixon with just over two minutes to play that extended the Clayton lead to seven.

The closest Knightdale would get was six points (43-37) on a 3-pointer by Neal with two minutes left. Clayton made five of its last six free throws, including four by Williams, to pull away in the last minute.

Clayton shot slightly better than Knightdale for the contest – 37 percent (13-for-35) to 27 percent (10-37).

Clark added seven points for the Comets, while Murphy and Dixon chipped in six each.

Locklear and Neal paced KHS with 10 and nine points, respectively, while Wright provided eight.