ROBERSONVILLE — The Lady basketball Seahawks continue on their scorching hot streak with two wins in the Cougar Classic holiday tournament at South Creek High School. Southside defeated Edenton Holmes 58-53 on Friday night and Camden County 57-40 on Saturday evening.

A scrappy Edenton team never quit, despite trailing by as many as 16 points in the contest. Out the gate, the Lady Seahawks opened up a 12-0 lead, with Ka’Niyah O’Neal scoring 10 of those points.

At the halftime break, Southside led the Lady Aces 36-22. The beginning of the second half swung momentum in Edenton’s direction. Aces’ guard Jamillian Johnson drained four huge threes in the second half and helped chip away at the Seahawks’ lead.

With just over a minute remaining, a 3-pointer from the Aces cut the lead to just three points, but that was as close as they could get it.

On the ensuing Seahawks possession, O’Neal found a lane and drove hard, drawing three defenders into the paint where she dropped it off to Shantel Cannon, who converted an and-1 opportunity.
The Seahawks’ defense and free throws prevailed and vaulted Southside to its fifth consecutive victory.

O’Neal went on to score 31 points in the contests, picking up five assists and snagging six steals. She scored 26 points on Saturday night against Camden County, grabbing nine rebounds, two assists and eight steals.

“I just had to keep making my free throws,” O’Neal said about her 31-point outburst. “It feels good, I’m glad (my teammates) were catching my passes.”

Against the Aces, Jasmine Blango picked up 15 points, three assists and three steals. Cannon had six points, and Laquisha Woolard had four points and seven steals on the evening.

“We are learning as we go along. I told the girls that we have to learn to close games out. Edenton was pressing us real hard, but we maintained our composure and did a good job in the last two minutes of the ball game and closed it out,” Southside head coach Milton Ruffin said after Friday night’s win over Edenton.

The Seahawks went on to win its sixth consecutive game with the win over Camden County on Saturday night, and now their focus turns back to 1-A Coastal Carolina Conference play.

Their next match up is at Tarboro on Jan. 7. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. with the boys varsity game to follow.