CHOCOWINITY — As the regular season nears an end every game has become magnified for Southside as it jostles for position in a clustered Four Rivers Conference. That’s why when the Seahawks clashed with South Creek, a team still searching for its first conference win of the year, the idea of overlooking the Cougars never crossed their mind.
Southside jumped on South Creek with a wire-to-wire strong performance that resulted in a 57-37 victory and kept their hopes of third place in the conference alive.
“It’s a big win for us … the conference is so tight that one loss will just throw you down the list,” Southside coach Bill Lake said. “We wanted to really come out strong and play hard and play a good game all the way through.
“All season long we have had quarters where we’ve just forgotten to play and tonight we came out and finally had four good quarters.”
The Cougars (0-10, Four Rivers Conference) hung with the ’Hawks (6-4, Four Rivers Conference) in the first quarter as Tyshina Griffin and Tatya Purvis combined for eight points.
South Creek entered the second quarter trailing 19-12, but managed only four points over the next eight minutes and went into halftime down 34-16.
“There’s always one quarter where we just don’t play good defensively or offensively,” South Creek coach Greg Exum said. “Tonight we played pretty hard. As far as hustling, that’s probably the best we’ve played all year but sometimes we just don’t play smart.”
Purvis, Griffin and Victoria Van Nortwick each scored six points for the Cougars, while Kim Mobley tallied seven.
Southside outscored the Cougars 15-4 in the second thanks to its ability to run the floor.
“All of a sudden the girls started getting the ball out and down the court,” Lake said. “(South Creek) didn’t have time to set up which left us lanes to the bucket.”
The Seahawks flexed a balanced attack led by Breanna Blango’s 15 points and Melvisha Dudley’s 12. Southside power center DeAndria added 10 and 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the year.
“We’ve been having big nights for guards then the next night it would be a big night for our big men, we wanted to have a night where everyone contributed,” Lake said. “And I felt like we did that tonight.”
After the big second quarter, Southside was able to empty its bench and still get quality play as it was able to maintain control of the game and take a 45-24 lead into the fourth

South Creek    12    4    8    13    —    37
Southside    19    15    11    12    —    57
Cougars (37)
Purvis 6, Mobley 7, Baker 4, Griffin 6, Van Nortwick 6, Parker 4, No. 10 2.
Seahawks (57)
Melvisha Dudley 12, Stanbridge 1, Clark 7, Mourning 6, Breanna Blango 15, DeAndria Purdue 10, Hardy 2.