Friday night was powerful. A gym full of 2,500 people was totally silent during a tribute moment for Coaches Vs. Cancer. Plus, Liberty and Liberty North’s varsity girls and boys basketball teams battled it out on the Eagles home court.

The Jays varsity boys were able to snag a “W” with a double digit gap of 49 to 39. The stand-out points-leader, senior Clayton Adams, scored 18 points for the Jays who took the lead early in the first quarter and never gave it up for the rest of the game. Juniors Jordan McClellan, Brock Matson and Jalen Lewis held off the pressure built up by North in the third and fourth quarter with critical shots and rebounds.

The student section was electric, making it their goal to out-voice North’s section, and to distract their players as well. The theme was Stormtrooper, where students showed up in camo and face paint.Their goal to be hidden failed, however, due to their overwhelming volume and turnout. The fan section was supportive of the varsity boys until the very end when their lead officially became a win.

“It only felt like we won when the buzzer sounded,” Adams said.

The Jays walked away with another win under their belts, now 13-3 on the season, with Lewis being only one point shy of a career record of 1000 points, and one three-pointer away from a new LHS basketball program record.

The designated student section for the Jays was completely filled by the JV girls game, which was the first match-up on the fieldhouse court. By game time for Girls varsity, the second game, the section overflowed to the next set of bleachers, surpassing North’s student-section turnout.

The Lady Jays varsity beat North 56 to 48, thanks to junior Kayel Newland who scored 29 points and five three-pointers. The game was riddled with fouls from both ends, but the Lady Jays’ synergy put them at a comfortable lead. Freshman Olivia Nelson came through with decisive ball movement, and juniors Emilyn Richardson and Geova Alexander lit up the free-throw lane, helping keep North and senior BeBe Gist at bay in the third and fourth quarters. Gist led the Lady Eagles with 22 points. To their dismay, however, it was not enough to phase the Lady Jays.

“We’re on a few game winning streak, and we finished up the Truman Tournament pretty well, so I think we had a lot of momentum going into this game,” MVP Newland said following the girls’ victory. “We knew what it was going to take to beat then on their home floor.”

With North being added into Liberty’s Suburban Red Conference serving as a catalyst, the Liberty Tribune formed a sports competition between the two schools for a Crosstown Cup. In every sport, the two schools are scheduled to match up a maximum of two times for regular season conference play. Every time Liberty and North varsity teams face each other, the winner of the match-up earns a point for their designated school. The first school to reach 14 points wins the Cup. Going into the night, Liberty lead North with a score of eight to five. The Jays ended up sweeping North in both Girls and Boys JV and varsity, going 4-0 on the night, so they received two more points in the showdown to make the score ten to five.

The overall theme for the night was “Coaches vs. Cancer,” a national collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches that asks coaches and communities to join the fight against cancer. The girls from both varsity teams warmed up in black “Team Kiana” shirts, a student in the Liberty school district who is fighting cancer. There was a video telling Kiana’s story at halftime.
Before the boys varsity game, a moment of silence was held where every single player, coach, referee and most of the audience held signs saying whom they stand up to cancer for. All of the coaches on both teams dressed for the Coaches vs. Cancer trend #suitsandsneakers, another way to raise awareness for the cause.
Throughout both of the varsity games, the audience of 2,500 was able to raise more than $2,000 for the Coaches vs. Cancer cause, reminding everyone that basketball can unite a city and two schools.

The next showdown between these two basketball programs will be February 10 at Liberty’s field house starting at 6:30.