CHOCOWINITY — After clashing in the regular-season finale, Southside and Northside met once again less than a week later in the first round of the Coastal Plains Conference tournament. It was quite similar to last week’s meeting with the Seahawks claiming a 77-59 win to advance to the second round.

Pat Coffey opened the scoring with a basket in transition. A free throw from Atia Shamseldin and a layup by Ikeem Greene gave Northside a 3-2 edge early on in the contest.

It was the only lead the traveling Panthers would get. Shondrea Roland responded quickly with a 3-pointer at the other end to reclaim the advantage.

“They’re just really athletic,” Panthers coach Mike Proctor said. “They just went out and the refs let them play their style. … That’s not what we need to be competitive. They’re just real athletic and good.”

The Seahawks thrived thanks to their athleticism. They scored five times in transition to help double down on Northside, 20-10, by the end of the first quarter.

This was a tough game for both teams. Playing the same team twice in less than a week is never an easy task to prepare for. Drastic changes aren’t likely this late in the season, but there’s always the chance that the opposition shakes something up.

That’s what Southside faced from Northside’s defense.

“We kept playing pretty much the same offense because what they were in was pretty much man,” Seahawks coach Sean White said. “It looked like they were doing what we were doing against Bear Grass where we would swap our one and two guard on their best player. I think that’s what they started doing to Pat a little bit.

“We were prepared for that. We looked at the film. They did a little bit of the same thing last week, but it wasn’t on the same scale.”

Southside is heating up at the right time. Tamazja Dixon has strung together an impressive stretch of games and Lawrence Brown continues to be reliable off the bench.

“Those guys, they’ve grown up with basketball. They’ve watched it on TV,” White said. “They know how teams can get hot right at the beginning of the playoffs. For us tonight to win this game big again … They know. We’ve talked about it a little bit.”

Coffey and Johnny Sullivan, who have been consistent all year, complete a backcourt that has been a strength for the Seahawks. The duo of Roland and Donshae Tatum down low has made the team that much more complete. The presence of 6-foot-4 Roland makes it nearly impossible to gang up on Tatum.

“I thought they were going to come out right away and double team Tatum right away a little bit more than they did last game, but they didn’t,” White said. “They didn’t double team as much as they did previously. … I think (Roland) takes the heat off. They hadn’t seen him until last Thursday.”

The Seahawks had a 37-26 lead at halftime. They earned a significant amount of their points right at the rim, but hit a handful of long-range shots that helped keep the game out of reach for Northside.

However, those treys stopped dropping in the second half. Southside didn’t made one from behind the arc until a minute and a half into the fourth quarter. It gave the Panthers a chance to climb back in, but they couldn’t capitalize.

“We couldn’t get anything going because they kept pushing us outside and making us start our offense up farther and farther,” Proctor said.

It was more of the same in the fourth period. Southside got plenty of quick baskets and trips to the free-throw line, as well as triples from Roland and Coffey, to finish off strong.