PINETOWN — It’s hard to stay competitive in a game when a team spends most of it on its own defensive half of the court. Pamlico County got more and more aggressive with its full-court press in Thursday’s 69-38 win over Northside, leaving the Lady Panthers with few opportunities to get the ball and set up on their half of the court.

The Lady Hurricanes, on the other hand, weren’t too keen on setting up on their offensive end of the floor. All they wanted to do was trap, force turnovers and get some easy baskets. It worked, too. They had 30 steals in the game.

Of course, that kind of aggression comes with a downside in the form of fouls. The visitors were whistled 20 times in the game and put the Lady Panthers in the bonus quite early in both halves.

“It works when we don’t get 50,000 fouls called against us,” said Lady Canes coach April Rose. “That’s a risk we have to take and we’re willing to take it. I didn’t expect that many fouls early on, but it’s a gamble we need to take.

“That’s who we are. Our focus is turning defense into offense. We’re just not a very solid half-court team. We don’t really have any great shooters. We can make layups and we can make paint shots. We’re quick and we try to use those strengths to help us get offense.”

As Rose expected, her team’s shooting didn’t dazzle. The girls only shot 32 percent from the field, but that’s forgivable when they attempt 79 shots.

Northside trailed, 19-12, at the end of the first. The Lady Panthers were making shots from short and mid-range. As the game went on and the Canes got more aggressive, those shots became harder to make. They would be rushed to shoot when they would be able to break through the full-court press. Moreover, the constant breaks due to foul calls made it that much harder for the home side to establish any sort of rhythm.

Because of that, Northside only made two field goals in the second quarter and trailed 31-18 going into the locker rooms. Shooting woes continued in the second half as Northside made just five more shots in the final 16 minutes. After scoring 24 in the second quarter, the Canes kept their foot on the gas and added 27 in the second half.

Northside got plenty of opportunities at the free-throw line, but not nearly enough to put a dent in its deficit.

The girls fall to 2-4 on the season. They will host this weekend’s Northside Holiday Tournament.