Report by Kevin Johnson
The Melbourne Bearkatz made it a clean sweep on Tuesday night at Melbourne High School with two victories over the Mountain View Yellowjackets.
In the opener the Class 2A, number one-ranked Melbourne Lady Bearkatz defeated the Class 3A, number one-ranked Mountain View Lady Yellowjackets by a score of 54-30.
The game was close early with Mountain View leading 7-6 late in the first quarter, but the Lady Bearkatz outscored the Lady Yellowjackets 17-2 the rest of the first half to lead 23-9 at halftime and take control of the game in route to the victory.
Kenley McCarn led the Lady Bearkatz with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Jenna Lawrence added 15 points as the Lady Bearkatz improved to 25-2 on the season. Mountain View was led by Chaelann Vickers who had nine points and six rebounds as the Lady Yellowjackets dropped to 21-3.
In the finale, the Melbourne Bearkatz avenged an earlier loss in the season to the Mountain View Yellowjackets by defeating Mountain View by a score of 50-43.
Melbourne jumped out to an early 14-6 lead after the end of the first quarter and led by 15 at halftime following a strong first half from the Bearkatz on Senior Night.
Mountain View would close the gap to 36-30 early in the fourth quarter before the Bearkatz would hit 10 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the victory. Melbourne had 11 players in the scoring column, with Senior Gabe Lawrence leading the way with 10 points, Layton Jennings added eight points, Riley Gray and Remi Lawrence each added seven points as Melbourne improved to 17-9 on the season.
Mountain View was led by Elijah Carlton who had 18 points and 14 rebounds, J’Air Jackson added 13 points in the loss as Mountain View dropped to 11-13 on the season.
Next up for both teams will be their District Tournament next week, with Melbourne playing at Salem and Mountain View playing at Bergman.
