Norwood Pirates beat pair of district champions

The Norwood Pirates’ basketball team drew a pair of tough road match-ups last week as they took on two programs that won district titles a season ago.
Norwood traveled to Joplin to battle New Heights Christian and went to Strafford for a battle with the Indians.
Fortunately, Norwood found a way to pick up two big wins to move their record to 11-3 on the season. Against the Indians, Pierce Lawson hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with around 24 seconds left to lift Norwood past Strafford, 69-68.
Norwood led by six at halftime before holding off a second half Indians’ charge. Carder Kelly scored a team-high 23 points; Andrew Bradshaw and Remington Hill both had 14; Lawson added seven; Laken Coatney and Carson Vaughan had four points; and Hunner Finch had three.
The Pirates followed the win by holding off a late New Heights Christian charge to win 48-45.
Norwood made just 16-of-27 free throws in the win, which helped the Cougars in their comeback efforts. Lawson scored a team-high 17 points; Kelly had 13; Carson Vaughan scored seven; both Bradshaw and Coatney had four; Hill added two; and Brady Vaughan scored one point.