PINETOWN — Clearly still flustered after a season-low 16 points performance against Pamlico County on Wednesday, the Northside girls’ basketball team looked sluggish out of the gate Friday night, but a strong second half from guard Alex Adams lifted the Panthers to a 51-31 win over Bear Grass.

“I talked to them a bit about the little things we weren’t doing, like coming out and playing hard,” said head coach Michelle Leathers. “We were playing too quick at times. I was trying to get Alex to calm down and get the ball to the corner. When the shots aren’t falling, you need to find a way to get to the basket. She started doing that towards the end with Rachel Lang.”

Lang supported the defense and finished with a double-double — 13 points and 12 rebounds. Her second-chance points and timely blocks kept Northside in the game early, as the team went just 3-for-10 from the charity stripe in the first half and shot a low percentage from the field.

Bear Grass broke down Northside’s full-court press early on, but also struggled to finish down the stretch.

After a quiet first quarter, Adams finally began to locate teammates in transition and find the bottom of the net. Northside led 19-10 at the half.

“Tonight we just wanted to have some fun out there and they did,” Leathers said. “I still chewed them out a little bit because I had a plan and it didn’t work out. I told them at the half, ‘if they’re not guarding at the top, pull.’

Bear Grass point guard Courtney Adams kept the Bears in the game by driving and drawing fouls, while teammate Taylor Lilley also began to heat up. The Bears matched Northside’s offensive output in the third quarter, but were outmatched through the last eight minutes.

On the back of 14 fourth quarter points from Alex Adams, who went 2-for-3 from range, Northside coasted in the final minutes and picked up its first conference win of the season.

Adams finished with a game-high 24 points, five rebounds and three assists. For Bear Grass, Courtney Adams notched 13 points.

With the win, Northside improves to 3-6 (1-2 EPC) and will face Jones Senior in Trenton on Friday.