CHOCOWINITY — The Southside girls’ basketball team scored the first 16 points of the game against Camden and never looked back as the Seahawks topped Bruins 51-28 on Tuesday to win their Four Rivers Conference opener.

Valerie Ruffin scored 14 points to pace Southside, while Katisha Hyman tallied 12 and Roslyn Clark added 11 to extend the team’s winning streak and up its record to 7-0 (1-0).

“The kids were ready to play and we got out there and really established who was in charge here tonight,” Seahawks coach Bill Lake said.

After entering the second quarter down 15-0, Camden, led by McKenzie Moore’s game-high 17 points, kept pace with the Seahawks for the next two quarters but the Bruins could not overcome their sluggish first quarter.

“We got out to a hot start but then we kind of coasted for a long while,” Lake said. “We almost opened the door for them to come back in but then we had a spurt in the third quarter were we scored eight points really quick that kind of sealed the deal.”

Lake can count on Hyman, last year’s WDN Player of the Year, to put up high point totals each night but said that getting big games from Ruffin and Clark was a key factor in Tuesday’s win.

“It’s huge for us that we get other players stepping up. Otherwise, they can concentrate on Katisha and she just cant’ do it by herself,” Lake said. “It was good to see Valerie Ruffin get in double figures tonight. She had been dragging behind getting her scoring and it was good to see her get into rhythm.

“Roslyn Clark has been playing really well for us coming off the bench and she provides a big spark.”

While their balanced attack boosted the offense, the Seahawks also used a group effort on defense where they shutout the Bruins in the first quarter. Despite that effort, Lake was still not completely satisfied and that he wants to see constant improvement on the defensive end of the court.

“I’m not happy but I probably never will be with our defense,” Lake said with a smile. “I like to play defense and I think our kids are enjoying playing defense this year.”

 

Miller nets 15 in loss to Camden

Southside’s Rokeem Miller tallied a team-high 15 points but the buckets were few and far between for the Seahawks as they fell 61-35 to Camden in their Four Rivers Conference opener on Tuesday.

The Bruins featured nine players that entered the scoring column and were led by Brett Forbes and Shaquille Spencer who scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Thanks to a stingy press, Camden jumped out to a 15-5 lead in the first quarter and rode a 29-14 advantage into halftime.

“The biggest difference was the amount of turnovers we had in the first half,” Southside coach Sean White said. “We’re not taking care of the ball on the offensive end. There are times where we run our press-break real good and then we get into our halfcourt set and can’t hold on to it.

“We had like 18 to 20 turnovers in the first half and that’s the biggest difference. You can’t compete against a good team like Camden doing that.”

Those turnovers, combined with some cold shooting, kept the Seahawks from scoring over 10 points in a quarter until they tallied 15 in the fourth.

White said the team’s second half improvement was encouraging.

“We only had about nine turnovers in the second half,” White said. “We stayed with them. We were able to keep the deficit about the same.”

 

Girls game

Camden     0       10     12     6       —     28

Southside   15     12     13     11     —     51

 

Bruins (28)

McKenzie Moore 17, Guyser 2, Asper 3, Lewis 6.

Seahawks (51)

Valerie Ruffin 14, Katisha Hyman 12, Rolsyn Clark 11, Painter 4, Dudley 4, Harris 2.

 

Boys game

Camden     17     12     17     15     —     61

Southside   9       5       6       15     —     35

 

Bruins (61)

McDaniels 8, Brett Forbes 12, Shaquille Joyner 10, Wilson 5, McCoy 6, Evans 7, Walston 8, Hassell 4, McLea 3.

Seahawks (35)

Rokeem Miller 15, Collins 2, Stokes 2, Dixon 5, Murny 2, White 5, Rodman 2.