CHOCOWINITY — The Seahawks put the finishing touches on a stellar regular season by beating Four Rivers Conference and area rival Northside 57-48 on Thursday in both team’s regular season finale.
The Seahawks entered the contest tied atop the conference standings with Riverside and their victory over the Panthers meant that they clinched a share of the Four Rivers Conference championship with the Knights who beat South Creek on Thursday.
Thursday’s Senior Night victory improved Southside’s record to 22-2 (13-1), which is the best regular season mark the Seahawks have posted during coach Bill Lake’s tenure. After the game Lake praised the efforts of seniors Valerie Ruffin, Katisha Hyman, Chante Painter and Celeste Jones.
“These girls have been real special,” Lake said. “They have a lot of extra ordinary talent. They are very intelligent young ladies and they are extremely well-mannered.”
Northside (9-15, 3-11) almost robbed Southside, the third-ranked 1-A team in the state according to NCPreps.com, of their Senior Night glory as forward Rachel Hollowel came out on fire to score 11 of the team’s 13 first-quarter points to head into the second quarter trailing only 14-13.
“She got the ball and she was taking it to the basket,” Northside coach Michelle Leathers said. “Tonight she had to take it to the basket and that made a difference.”
Hollowell would go on to score a game-high 23 points but the Panthers would not get any closer to their rival.
The Seahawks, who received 13 points from Painter, 12 from Hyman and 10 from Ruffin, went on to outscore Northside 23-10 in the second quarter to pull away from the Panthers.
After getting outscored 10-3 in the third quarter, Northside showed it still had some fight in it and put together a 20-10 in the final eight minutes to end the game on a high note.
Both teams will be back in action early next week when the Four Rivers Conference tournament begins.

Northside    13    10    3    20    –    48
Southside    14    23    10    10    –    57
Panthers (48)
Paul 5, Rachel Hollowell 23, Jordan Woolard 11, Alligood 1, Franks 2, Cutler 4, Gruber 1, Fath
Seahawks (57)
Valerie Ruffin 10, Katisha Hyman 12, Clark 6, Hardy 4, Mourning 2, Chante Painter 13, Deandrea Purdue 10.