TURNER — By the time Kristen Anderson drained a 3-pointer from just inside halfcourt to end the first half Friday night, the Leavitt Hornets had effectively scored from inside the paint and worked their way out.

When that outside shot began to compliment the inside game, the unbeaten Hornets were well on their way to a 69-38 win over Oak Hill.

Adrianna Newton scored 18 points in the post, including 10 in the first half. Amanda Jordan scored five of her seven points during a stretch in the second that broke the game open for good.

“Adrie has always been very tough for us inside,” said Leavitt coach Tammy Anderson. “We’ve had her for a long time, since she was young. Amanda is not far behind, and her game has increased incredibly. We have Sarah Frost outside on the block. She plays a wing for us, and that’s where we need the help. She’s doing great. I think a lot of people are surprised that we’re strong inside, but we’re not. We’re used to that.”

When Leavitt’s perimeter shooting heated up and the Hornets took advantage of Raider turnovers, Oak Hill couldn’t keep pace.  Courtney Anderson finished with 19 while Kristen Anderson added 17. Oak Hill got 21 from Maggie Sabine.

“We did everything we wanted to do early,” said Oak Hill coach Tom Morong. “We slowed the pace down and took care of the ball. They play such a frenetic style. When you’re talking about 14, 15 and 16 year old kids and tell them ‘No’, but they want to run. We ended up playing at their pace for about three minutes and that killed us.”

It was an 8-0 run early in the second that opened the lead up for the Hornets. Then a 12-1 surge to end the half finished it off. The Raiders turned the ball over 17 times in the first half and had trouble slowing down the Hornets, especially inside. Newton and Jordan combined for six points during the 8-0 run that turned a 12-10 score into a 20-10 advantage.

“We try to focus on doing the in and out,” said Newton. “They pass to me and if I can’t have a shot, I’ll pass back out for Courtney, Abbey (Randall) or Kristen for them to shoot it, and we can get the rebound.”

Though the Raiders have some size, they struggled defending the post play early, especially while trying to neutralize Leavitt’s outside shot. Six-footer Devon Adair was seeing her first action of the year, but Oak Hill was still  limited inside.

“My other big girl inside (Rebecca Lehotay) is 5-7,” said Morong.” Maggie is 5-10, but we have to ask her to handle the ball and help here and help there. So it’s tough.”

The Raiders got baskets by Darby Beaulieu and Sabine late in the second to get within 25-18, but Leavitt got a Jordan hoop off a Courtney Anderson pass. Then Anderson hit a jumper and Kristen Anderson followed with a 3-pointer and a rebound. After Adair hit a free throw, Kristen Anderson effortlessly sank the 3-pointer from midcourt for a 37-19 lead.

“We can do both,” said Newton. “We started inside and then worked out. We worked really good tonight. I think we really pulled together what we’ve been doing in practice.”

Oak Hill was able to slow the pace down in the first quarter while Leavit shot just 4-for-14 from the floor. Sabine had six of the Raiders eight points in the quarter.  Newton followed with a rebound, and Courtney Anderson scored six points down the stretch to build the 12-8 lead. The Hornets defense was aggressive and took advantage of the Raiders mistakes which enabled Leavitt to pick up the pace of play.

“We try to do quick steals,” said Newton. “So then we can run. That’s what we do and get most of our points on.”