By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
WILLIAMSTON — In the beginning of the season Southside set out to become the Four Rivers Conference regular season and tournament champions, and on Friday the school did just that.
The Seahawks (19-3) earned the No. 1 seed for the tourney after winning the regular season crown, and on Friday, they were able to hold off No. 3 Plymouth (14-5) to win the conference tournament title with a 67-57 victory.
“(Winning the regular season and tournament title) was a major goal for us when we started the season,” Southside coach Bill Lake said. “Everybody wanted to work for that … We worked hard and the girls are really excited right now.”
The Seahawks put in work in the third quarter where they worked over Plymouth as it entered the quarter down 27-26. but ended it up 55-33.
Plymouth’s Shaquisha Cooper drained a three-pointer right at the end of the half to give the Vikings a one-point lead and momentum going into the break.
That momentum never made it out of the Plymouth locker room.
Southside started the second half on fire as it ripped off a 19-0 run thanks to a strong press and a monster game by star guard Katisha Hyman.
Hyman ended the game with 32 points, and the Seahawks ended the quarter out-scoring the Vikings 29-6.
“(At halftime) I told them we needed to pick up the pace,” Lake said. “The first half pace was way out of control for us. If we continued to play that slow we didn’t stand a chance.”
Vikings coach Kerry Baldwin said his team’s inability to handle the Seahawks’ pressure led it its downfall.
“Truly, I didn’t expect them to press us, but when they did we should have been able to break that but we were not in the right positions.” Baldwin said. “Some of our passes were a little weak and they were coming up with some steals.”
The Seahawks’ up-tempo style of play helped build up its big lead, but it almost blew it for them as well. Southside failed to milk the clock in the fourth quarter which allowed the Vikings, who were led by Kristy Gibson’s 20 points and Desire Chesson’ 17, to rally back into the game.
Plymouth was able to cut the Seahawks lead to 10 before it ran out of time.
Plymouth 12 15 6 24 — 57
Southside 13 13 29 12 — 67
Vikings (57)
Clark 5, Desire Chesson 17, Smallwood 5, Kristy Gibson 20, Biggs 3, Cooper 6, Phelps 1.
Seahawks (67)
Katisha Hyman 32, Starkie 3, Chante Painter 11, Thomas 4, Mourning 4, Purdue 5, Clark 4, Hodges 2, Dudley 2