Now that the winter break is over, both Kinston’s boys and girls basketball teams are hoping to put things back in working order.
Both Vikings programs went winless in their respective holiday tournaments last week, and both will look to put the past behind them when they host Farmville Central tonight in Eastern Plains 2A Conference action.
Kinston’s boys went 0-2 at the HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational in Raleigh while its girls went 0-3 in the Bunn Christmas Classic at Bunn High School.
In all, Lenoir County teams that played in a holiday tournament last week combined to go 0-9.
“We see what gave us trouble and we’re going to have to practice with a purpose to get better because it ain’t going to get any easier,” said Vikings coach Perry Tyndall following his team’s loss to Waxhaw Cuthbertson in an elimination game of the HSOT.com Holiday Invitational.
“When we get back on Friday night Farmville Central’s going to be there waiting for us in conference.”
Kinston’s boys were left stunned when they gave up a late 13-point lead and were held scoreless in the fourth quarter against Cuthbertson a week ago today in the Cavaliers’ 50-47 win.
Today, the Vikings (9-2, 1-0) host a Jaguars team that won its first nine games — as did Kinston — and are 10-1 on the year.
Farmville Central’s only loss came to Winterville South Central in last week’s Pitt County Christmas tournament.
“We’ve got a lot to work on but we’ve got a lot of season ahead of us,” Tyndall said. “We’re not panicking, but we know we’ve got a lot to work on.”
While Kinston’s boys let a sure win slip through their fingers last week — they nearly rallied to defeat nationally-ranked DeSoto (Texas) a day earlier — its girls team dropped their first game of a round-robin event and couldn’t recover.
The Vikings (9-4, 1-0) fell to host school Bunn 55-49 on the opening day of the event, then dropped consecutive games to Wake Forest-Rolesville and Chapel Hill — a 4A and 3A school, respectively.
It is the longest losing streak for Kinston’s girls program since it dropped six straight in December, 2009.
Farmville Central’s girls enter tonight’s game with a 3-6 overall record, and are 1-0 in league play.
Ryan Herman can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Ryan.Herman@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KFPSports.