River Bluff notched two varsity wins over White Knoll Friday night in The Swamp.

The girls varsity team finished strong to notch a 52-49 win while the boys varsity came out on top of the Timberwolves 32-28 in a game where both squads struggled to score.

The girls’ game saw a tremendous 2nd half comeback from River Bluff. It trailed 36-26 at the midpoint and only pulled even at 49-49 with 1:29 remaining in the game. 

J. P. Wilson converted a 3-point play to tie game. The senior point guard then drew another foul with 39 seconds remaining to add another 2 points at the line. 

Wilson added another late free throw as the Timberwolves attempted to get the ball back and score, resulting in the final total. She finished with a team-high 30 points to help the Lady Gators (12-7, 3-0) move into sole possession of 1st place in the region for the 1st time in school history.

Bria Singleton and Mackenzie Evans each had 16 points and Jessica Jenkins added 12 for the Lady Timberwolves (10-8, 2-1). 

River Bluff moves to 3-0 and sole possession of first place in their region for the first time. It plays host to archrival Lexington on Tuesday. 

The boys varsity matchup was another hard-fought contest, but neither team was able to put together much in the way of scoring. For the Timberwolves, it was a combination of an inability to penetrate the Gators’ zone defense until late in the second half. 

Despite good ball movement and plenty of opportunities to score, it was an overall poor shooting performance both from the field and at the line. Jaylen Ray led White Knoll (13-8, 1-2) with 11 points. 

River Bluff (15-5, 2-1) didn’t fare much better, only managing to pull ahead at the midpoint due to a couple of 3-pointers, making the halftime score 18-8.

The scoring improved in the second half for both teams, but only slightly on the way to the final score.

The Gators’ leading scorer, Myles Jenkins, missed the second half but still contributed a team-high 8 points. 

“Losing him midway put pressure on some new guys for us, but they showed some guts,” River Bluff head coach Ben Lee said after the win, which he acknowledged wasn’t the best game they’ve played.

“It’s a win, and at times we did some good stuff. At times we didn’t. We’ll go back to practice like we do every day and work on those game situations.”

With River Bluff and Lexington’s victories, the 2 teams moved into a 3-way tie for 1st place with Dutch Fork in the region standings. The Gators and Wildcats meet Tuesday in The Swamp.