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Both the West Forsyth boys and girls basketball teams played three games last week.

The boys won two of three, and the girls won one game.

Teams were off last Monday and Tuesday because Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools was out due to hazardous road conditions from the snow the previous Friday. So, after a two-hour delay last Wednesday, school resumed. After school, both teams traveled to Kernersville to play a Central Piedmont 4-A game at East Forsyth.

At the time, the West Forsyth boys were undefeated in the conference heading to East Forsyth. The East Forsyth boys defeated West Forsyth 59-55.

East Forsyth took a 18-12 lead after the first quarter, but West Forsyth came back to take a 35-27 lead at halftime. However, East Forsyth outscored West Forsyth 13-5 in the third quarter.

“I thought we was lacking energy and I don’t think we played our best basketball after the layoff,” Coach Marlon Brim of West Forsyth said. “So, you know, East did what they needed to do to win the game. And we didn’t play our best.”

Kamauri Manuel led West Forsyth in the loss at East Forsyth with 14 points. Jacari Brim chipped in with 13 points, and Princeton Scott added 12 points.

“I think (East) is good,” Marlon Brim said “They’ve got some great and good pieces. They play hard and they do what that need to win games.”

Before the loss at East Forsyth, West Forsyth had a game scheduled this past Friday at home against Mount Tabor, which defeated West Forsyth in the championship of the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Bracket of the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic just before Christmas.

“I thought the loss got our attention,” Marlon Brim said. “I thought we came into the game against East kind of lackadaisical. lack of focus, I give those guys some credit. They bounced back with the win on Friday.”

West Forsyth did just that with a 53-38 win at Simpson Gymnasium in Clemmons.

Jacari Brim led West Forsyth with 19 points, and Jordan Tate chipped in with 14.

West Forsyth outscored Mount Tabor 14-4 in the fourth quarter.

“I was happy these guys got the win, but we’re just getting started,” Marlon Brim said. “So, I just told them, at the end of the day, that’s just the next step to trying to win the conference championship.”

Snook Peterkin led the Spartans with 18 points.

The win broke a 14-game losing streak against Mount Tabor dating to 2017. Friday’s game also ended the first half of conference play for both West Forsyth and Mount Tabor.

“It is (a relief), but we have to play them again at their place (Feb. 14 in the regular-season finale), so we can’t just work off what we did. you know, Friday,” Marlon Brim said. “We have to move on and get ready for the next round of conference play.”

Just a short while later, West Forsyth came back early this past Saturday afternoon and played host to Walkertown in the MLK Classic.

Tate scored a team-high 26 points to help West Forsyth roll past Walkertown 74-48 in a nonconference game.

The Titans outscored the Wolfpack (7-8) 16-7 in the first quarter, but the Wolfpack outscored the Titans 21-15 in the second quarter. The Titans outscored the Wolfpack 26-7 in the third quarter to seal the win.

“I thought we got off to a good start,” Marlon Brim said. “Then we kind of relaxed and let them and let Walkertown make a run. In the second half, we just played West Forsyth basketball.”

Jacari Brim added 14 points in the win against Walkertown, and Scott added 10.

“I thought it was something that would change our focus from the big win against Tabor to now you’ve got to focus on Walkertown, who is having a very good season, as well,” Marlon Brim said.

Now, the West Forsyth boys (15-2, 6-1) will have almost a full week off before it plays at Parkland (4-10, 1-6) on Friday. West Forsyth topped Parkland 75-35 in the first meeting on Dec. 13 in Clemmons.

“I just think we will get better at what we need to work on,” Marlon Brim said. “It’s just continue to preach the same message we’ve been preaching all year, is ‘Defense wins championships,’ And that’s how we want to get better.”
West Forsyth is tied with Davie County (13-3, 6-1) for first place in the conference, but West Forsyth holds the tiebreaker after defeating Davie County two weeks ago in Clemmons. Mount Tabor (11-4, 5-2) and East Forsyth (8-3, 5-2) are tied for third.

“I just think take it one game at a time in the conference,” Marlon Brim said. “You know, our goal is to win the conference championship. So, now we’re going through the second cycle. So, now we know what teams look like and how they play, so we can make an adjustment.

“So, you know, I just think it’s time to win that conference championship this year.”

As for the West Forsyth girls, they struggled through much of the week with losses against East Forsyth and Randleman. However, they did topple Mount Tabor at home this past Friday.

Alyssa Jessup scored 14 points and Rajanae Bethea chipped in with 13 to help East Forsyth defeat West Forsyth 51-43 last Wednesday night.

West Forsyth led 16-4 after the first quarter and 25-18 at halftime. East Forsyth outscored West Forsyth 15-3 in the third quarter.

“It was a game of runs,” Coach Johnathan Gainey of West Forsyth said. “We made a first run, had a decent lead. I think we was up 7 at halftime. (We) came out slow. We struggled to score a little bit. Give credit to East Forsyth. They picked up the intensity. And I think from that points, it was kind of nip-and-tuck. And down the stretch, they was able to make plays when they needed. And we came up a little short in our execution.”

It was also the fourth straight loss for the West Forsyth girls.

“We just told the girls, we was able to win six in a row,” Gainey said. “And I believe as long as I’ve been coaching, winning’s contagious.  I think losing is contagious. So, you’ve got to take each game, try not to look too far ahead.”

Emma Staples led West Forsyth with 16 points against East Forsyth, and Brooklynn King added 12.

“We’re just trying to find ways to win sometimes, and unfortunately for us depth is one of our issues,” Gainey said. “Right now, we have a couple players, I hate to say it, we’ve had players on numerous occasions that played 32 minutes. And we don’t make no excuses. We try to get out there and play.”

Despite the loss at East Forsyth, West Forsyth came home this past Friday and played host to Mount Tabor. Staples scored 19 points as West Forsyth dominated the second quarter to win 54-43.

Mount Tabor led 10-7 after the first quarter, but West Forsyth outscored Mount Tabor 26-16 at halftime.

“When you lose four in a row, in conference games, we lost a couple games back-to-back to Davie and Reynolds,” Gainey said. “So, you try to definitely take care of home.”

Isabel Gil added 15 points for West Forsyth, and Ella-Ashleigh Fulp led Mount Tabor (4-10, 3-4) with 16 points.

Just like the West Forsyth boys, the West Forsyth girls had a quick turnaround on Saturday and played host to Randleman at noon in the MLK Classic,

Gracie Beane led Randleman with 19 points, and Bella Byman had 13 to help it defeat West Forsyth 49-39 in a nonconference game.

Katherine Ebert led West Forsyth (9-7) with 10 points.

Randleman outscored West Forsyth 16-3 in the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t make the shots,” Gainey said. “That goes for a lot of things, the things we do, make shots early that can sustain you sometimes. And give you hats off to Randleman. They shot the ball well.”

The West Forsyth girls will also have much of this week off before getting back into conference play Friday at Parkland (7-6, 3-4).

West Forsyth won the first game 76-43 on Dec. 13 in Clemmons.

“We’ll finally be able to practice. We have a big game (on) Friday,” Gainey said. “We’ll get in the gym on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursay. So, if the weather holds we’ll have a couple days to get in there, work on some, and really, I hate to say it, but give us some rest.”