PINETOWN — Northside hosted the Christmas Tournament the week before Christmas. Like most other basketball teams in the area, the Lady Panthers are now afforded an opportunity to step back and analyze their performance from the first half of the season.

There aren’t a ton of things about the team’s style — offensively or defensively — that coach Michelle Leathers feels she needs to change. The one adjustment she did make was more of a mental one: she wants the Lady Panthers to play with a tougher attitude.

“We have to be more tough,” Leathers said. “We can get physical and we can get upset because we’re not winning, but they need to get more tough. When there’s a breakdown, someone needs to step up. That’s the key — our offense — because we can defend. We can defend on the ball.”

There are plenty of drills they run in practice that are meant to help the girls get used to playing a tougher game. Leathers said that she takes the court sometimes when she doesn’t think they’re playing tough enough in practice. That tends to wake up the players and make for a more competitive session.

Northside needs that toughness to make the most out of the challenging stretch ahead. It starts when the Lady Panthers return from the holiday layoff and hit the road for their first three games back. They travel to 1-A Coastal Plains Conference foes East Carteret, Jones Senior and Lejeune — all in less than a week.

The fortunate thing is that the girls have seen first hand exactly what the style Leathers is encouraging. Southside’s first two games of the season were lopsided losses to gritty First Flight and Washington teams. The idea is for the girls to embrace what they’ve seen and apply it against conference opponents. They saw it work in a narrow loss in their rematch with the Pam Pack at the Christmas Tournament.

Beyond the team’s toughness, most of the work during this layoff is concentrated on polishing what they’ve done well thus far. On the offensive end, Leathers wants the girls to take advantage of east baskets, whether they come at the free-throw line or via open shots.

“They better be able to knock their free throws down,” she chuckled. “That’s a big key. They need to take shots, the open shots. Some of them get open and want to go ahead and pass, putting a lot of pressure on the point guard. That’s what we’re trying to work on. Just staying focused because it’s going to be a tough week when we get back.”

Taking the open shots, whether it’s in transition or when they’re set up, is something that will come to the Lady Panthers as they get more in-game experience.

“We’re getting better with it,” Leathers said. “If you don’t play the game a lot, you’re not going to understand the transition. A lot of teams, like Washington, will get the ball and throw it to the girl who is cherry picking. We don’t understand that concept, but we’re getting it now. It takes more than Nov. 1. It starts in the summertime.”

Of course, most athletes at Northside play multiple sports. That makes it nearly impossible to get the team together in advance to prepare for the season.

Northside lost to Washington and Southside in the Christmas Tournament by just a combined nine points. Most aspects of the game seemed to click as the vacation approached. If the girls can build on that in practice and carry it over to the second half of the season, they should be able to find some success in the league.

Seniors Mariah Stanley, Destiny Jones, Quortasia Clark and Kendall Alligood are among those Leathers expects to continue leading the way. Their leadership will be vital moving forward. She also hopes to see younger players, like sophomore Abby Mooring, step up.

“I’m looking for her to step her game up because she’s gifted. She doesn’t know it yet, but she is,” Leathers said.