By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
CHOCOWINITY — Southside did all it could to try and slow down Northside center Tony Peele, but in the end Peele and the Panthers were too much as they topped the Seahawks 51-40 on Friday.
Peele scored the first six points of the game and ended the night with a game-high 23 points as he dominated in the low post to lead Northside (10-6, 3-3) over Four Rivers Conference rival Southside (2-11, 0-6).
“He’s a really, really good player,” Northside coach Mike Procter said. “Inside he is really tough to stop and he’s just a good player.”
Southside was led by forward Curtis Myers and guard Reggie Selby, who each scored 11 points, and trailed by a slim 18-16 margin at halftime of what was a turnover-filled affair for both teams.
The Panthers widened the margin in the third as they took a 29-22 lead into the fourth quarter where the team rode the backs of Peele and guard Taylor Woolard who combined for 16 points in the final eight minutes to lock down the victory.
Woolard ended the game with 12 points.
Procter said he was happy to get the win, but felt his team rushed towards the end of the game when it should have been trying to slow down the tempo.
“Any time you get a win over one of your rivals it’s a good thing, but we just did not play very smart down the stretch,” Procter said. “It frustrates me a lot, but we have been struggling to get some wins lately and we got a win so I’m happy. I’m happy with their effort, they played hard.”
Southside coach Sean White has seen his team struggle to post points all season and on Friday that trend continued.
“We are still battling some of the same things. The shooting has gotten better but tonight it was turnovers,” White said. “We ran our press defense and would get a turnover, but by the time we tried to set up our offense we would turn it back over … The turnovers just killed us.”
Southside 49, Northside 41
Northside took a one point lead into the fourth quarter, but a 11-1 Southside run midway through the final stanza proved to be the difference in the Seahawks’ 49-41 win over the rival Panthers Friday night.
Northside’s Rochelle Davis nailed a three-pointer to reclaim the lead at 34-33 with 7:22 left to play in the fourth. However, Southside (11-2, 6-1) responded with its biggest run of the game and took a 44-35 lead after a three-point play by Quaneika Thomas and a Chante Painter jump shot with 2:35 showing on the clock.
Thomas would finish the game with five points, while Painter tied teammate Katisha Hyman by scoring a game-high 15 points.
Southside coach Bill Lake said he was able to use a smaller lineup to negate the efforts of Northside’s tall, athletic front court.
“(Northside) went with bigger people and we had smaller people who were just a little quicker and then all of a sudden we found a way to hit shorter open shots,” Lake said. “We also got more aggressive on defense and got some steals and kept them from getting shots.”
Northside, which fell to 2-6 in the conference, was led by forwards Rachel Hollowell, Rochelle Davis and Jordan Woolard. Hollowell played a solid game and paced the Panthers with 12 points, while Davis added 11 and Woolard tallied eight.
“Rachel had a good game,” Northside coach Michelle Leathers said. “For some reason teams want to leave her open. I have been trying to tell her to get her hands up and get ready for the ball. She hit some big shots.”
Both teams will be back in action on Tuesday as Northside hosts Perquimans and Southside travels to Manteo.
Boys game
Northside 9 9 11 22 — 51
Southside 10 6 6 18 — 40
Panthers (51)
Tony Peele 23, Taylor Woolard 12, Harvey 5, Woods 8, Moore 1
Seahawks (40)
Jordan 8, Benston 4, Reggie Selby 11, Blount 2, Curtis Myers 11, Grice 3, Stanley 2, Moore 1.
Girls game
Northside 7 12 12 10 — 41
Southside 11 8 11 19 — 49
Panthers (41)
Paul 9, Woolard 8, Rachel Hollowell 12, Rochelle Davis 11, Slade 1.
Seahawks (49)
Chante Painter 15, Katisha Hyman 15, Clark 3, Stanbridge 2, Starkie 2, Thomas 5, Dubles 3, Hodges 2.