By By KEVIN TRAVIS
Sports Editor
CHOCOWINITY — Thanks to a balanced scoring attack, and a late run, the Southside Lady Seahawks got past a pesky Roanoke squad, 70-57, in Tuesday’s Four Rivers Conference Tournament action.
The Lady Seahawks, ranked 10th in the latest NCPreps.com/High School Media Class 1-A poll, used a 16-4 run in the fourth quarter to break a close game wide open. Southside (18-4) had beaten the Redskins (8-15) 58-45 and 69-54 during the regular season, but had a bit harder time putting Roanoke away this time around.
“They played as good as I’ve seen them play all year,” Southside coach Bill Lake said about the Redskins. “They really were aggressive. (Alexis Lloyd) and Emoni Jones really did a nice job on offense, driving in and making shots.”
Every time Southside would take a seemingly comfortable lead, Jones, who scored a game-high 26 points, led her team back in the game.
However, consecutive 3-pointers by Chante Painter and Katisha Hyman turned a four-point lead into a 60-50 advantage with just under four minutes to play. That ignited the 16-4 run that helped Southside pull away.
Painter finished with a team-high 21 points and Hyman added 15. Kayla Jones and Valerie Ruffin also hit for double digits with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
“That was really nice to see,” Lake said. “That’s kind of how we’ve been playing all year. The girls aren’t afraid to hit the open man. We seemed to find the open man tonight and that’s why (the scoring) was spread around.”
Southside will now turn its attention to Manteo for its second-round game, set for Thursday at Perquimans High School.
“We just have to stay focused,” Lake said. “We have to take it one game at a time. We have to be able to go 100 percent because Manteo is a nice, balanced team.
“It’s just a matter of us playing our game and playing it with some intensity.”
Southside came out with some intensity to start Tuesday’s game, using a 7-0 spurt to grab an early 9-2 lead. The Lady Seahawks wouldn’t trail again.
Roanoke, which got 11 points from Jasmine Griffin and nine out of Lloyd, kept things interesting. Consecutive baskets by Jones late in the first half trimmed the Southside lead to 25-23.
“I just told (the team) we had to go out there and play hard,” Lake said. “We had to keep pushing the ball up the court.”
Southside pushed its lead to 10 in the third quarter, but the Redskins kept chipping away and got as close as four points. The Lady Seahawks used the late run to put Roanoke away, and advance to the second round.
Roanoke 9 14 17 17 — 57
Southside 15 10 23 22 — 70
ROANOKE (57)
Emoni Jones 26, Jasmine Griffin 11, Lloyd 9, Draughn 4, Baker 3, Edwards 2, Peele 2
SOUTHSIDE (70)
Chante Painter 21, Katisha Hyman 15, Kayla Jones 11, Valerie Ruffin 10, Cradle 6, Thomas 3, Bogart 2, Avery 2