CHOCOWINITY — Southside was in good position to earn its third win in as many tries over rival Northside. The Lady Seahawks scored 12 of the game’s first 13 points, but couldn’t hang on in a 46-43 loss to the Lady Panthers in Monday’s first round of the 1-A Coastal Plains Conference.

“To me, it seemed a little difficult. My girls came out sluggish,” Northside coach Michelle Leathers said of playing the Lady Seahawks three times in a season. “I don’t know how the NBA does it. I think it was difficult for both sides.”

Southside jumped out to an 8-0 lead. Northside didn’t get onto the scoreboard until a free throw just over three minutes into the game. The Lady Seahawks used their press to get turnovers and found players in the post. Symone Ruffin dished to an open Judashia Golson, who put away an easy layup to give Southside a 16-5 lead early in the second quarter.

The 11-point deficit prompted Leathers to call her second timeout of the game with 6:39 left in the half.

“When somebody presses, if somebody jumps up in the air, you don’t throw the ball up in the air,” Leathers said. “You’ve got to go down. We had to get away from what we were doing. … We just needed confidence. Some of them had lost their confidence.”

Leathers rallied the troops, and it worked well. Abby Mooring had a floater sandwiched between two baskets from Rachel Lang that cut the deficit to 16-11. The Lady Seahawks responded quickly to make it a three-possession game. The Lady Panthers were able to come as close as two points just before halftime, but Danielle Ruffin was fouled on a late 3-pointer. She went 3-for-3 on the last-second trip to the charity stripe to give Southside a 27-22 lead heading into halftime.

The two teams traded buckets to start the third quarter. Northside kept chipping away until Brooklyn Hudnell’s triple from the wing tied the game at 31 apiece with 4:27 to go in the period. Ruffin got a transition layup just before the buzzer, though, and Southside went into the final eight minutes with a 36-34 lead.

The Lady Panthers had their hosts on their heels down the stretch. Southside’s offense wasn’t operating as fluidly as it had in the first half. Northside tied the game three times in the fourth.

“We just couldn’t get in a rhythm,” Southside coach Milton Ruffin said. “We have to give Northside credit. They took us out of what we wanted to do. … We didn’t get the ball down there to (Dixon). She was open and we couldn’t get the ball down there to her.”

With 5:09 to play, Hudnell got another one to fall from long range. It gave Northside a 42-41 lead — an advantage it wouldn’t surrender. The Lady Panthers spent time running out the clock, clinging to marginal edge, but they knew one point wouldn’t be enough.

Mooring got wide open under the basket on an inbound from halfcourt. Her layup gave Northside some breathing space in the form of a 46-41 lead with less than 30 ticks left.