PINEY WOODS – The Loyd Star Hornets dodged a bullet at the endand held on to knock off the Piney Woods Tornadoes Friday night ina big 65-62 Division 6-2A matchup.

Loyd Star (10-3, 4-2) held a three-point lead with 10 secondsleft to play. Piney Woods set up a three-pointer, missed it butthen brought the ball out again and shot at the buzzer, making itafter time had run out and failing to tie the game.

In the girls contest, the Lady Hornets (8-5, 4-2) overcame acold first quarter and outscored the Lady Tornadoes for a 54-46win.

“We played really well offensively and defensively,” said LoydStar boys coach Gene “Moochie” Britt.

Britt’s Hornets shot 58 percent from the field and hit three bigback-to-back 3 pointers in the fourth quarter to secure the win.Loyd Star outscored Piney Woods 21-14 in the final frame.

Powering the Hornets was Jared Britt with 26 points, fiverebounds and four steals. Seth Britt followed with 17 points,including five 3-pointers, five rebounds and four steals. Followingwith 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists was DemarcusBarnes. Jermaine Hunter led off the backboards with 10 rebounds.Hunter and Seth Britt also blocked a shot apiece.

“We had a real good fourth quarter,” said Coach Britt. “It’s abig accomplishment to beat them on their home floor.”

In the girls game, the Lady Hornets trailed 17-7 after the firstquarter but chipped away to trail 24-21 at the half and went up byone point, 32-31, going into the final frame.

“It was a quality win,” said Loyd Star girls coach Lori Britt.”It was good to beat them (Piney Woods) on the road. We had a bigfourth quarter. Everybody that played contributed.”

Ava Brown directed Loyd Star with 15 points and 10 rebounds.Jamakia Henderson fired in 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds.Making six steals was Ashton Williams. Jordan Britt made two stealsand had two assists.

High scorer of the game was Piney Woods’ Jasmine Williams with20 points.

Loyd Star visits West Lincoln Tuesday for four games. The juniorvarsity girls get underway at 4 p.m. followed by a junior high boysgame and two varsity games.