CHOCOWINITY — A heroic effort by Katisha Hyman combined with a backbreaking press enable Southside to overcome a 19-point fourth quarter deficit against Four Rivers Conference rival Plymouth and pull out a stunning 64-58 victory Friday night.
“These girls have a tremendous amount of heart. I’ve never seen a comeback quite like that,” Southside coach Bill Lake said.
Heading into the fourth quarter down 45-26, the Seahawks (18-2, 9-1) put together a mind-blowing 38-15 run against Plymouth (9-3, 7-3) in the final eight minutes that was powered Hyman’s 22 fourth-quarter points. The reigning Washington Daily News Player of the Year refused to let her time hang its head and began drilling three-pointers to get Southside back into the game. Hyman would go on to hit four fourth-quarter three-pointers with the last one cutting the Vikings’ lead to 56-52 with 1:42 left in the game.
When Hyman wasn’t knocking down threes she was dishing off to Chante Painter who tallied 14-fourth quarter points including a lead-changing layup off a Hyman steal and assist that put Southside up 57-56 with one minute showing on the clock.
Once they took the lead, the Seahawks refused to surrender it and outscored the Vikings 7-1 in the final minute.
Hyman would finish with a game-high 28 points while Painter poured in 20 but it was Hyman’s infectious refuse-to-lose style of play that enable the Seahawks to rally.
“She’s is that leader and she is the one that understands what it takes to and how much it’s going to take to get there,” Lake said. “She did it. She put the team on her back and started carrying them like she’s done so many times.”
The fire that fueled the Seahawks in the fourth was no where to be found in the first three quarters as Desire Chesson and Kristy Gibson carried Plymouth to 28-16 halftime lead and a 45-26 advantage after three quarters.
However, Gibson, who tallied 11 points, fouled out in the fourth quarter and Chesson, who scored a team-high 16, was held to one point in the final stanza.
“Gibson fouled out on what I thought was a questionable call. She’s our leader. At times like that we look to our leader and she wasn’t on the floor,” Plymouth coach Lamount Gilliam said.
Gibson’s presence was greatly missed late in the game as the Vikings struggled mightily to inbound the ball against the Seahawks’ press.
“We work on it every day: press break, getting the ball inbounds and tonight we just threw the ball up for grabs,” Gilliam said. “You can’t do that against the No. 2 ranked team in the state.”

Without Gibson’s leadership the Vikings fell apart and the frustration from their late collapse hit a boiling point at the: 54 mark when Chesson was ejected and assessed a technical foul for kicking Painter in the face as she lay on the floor at midcourt after she committed a foul on Plymouth’s Aviyana Smallwood.
Smallwood would make one of her two free throws to tie the game at 57. Then Painter handed her team the lead again as she made both of her free throws.
Both teams will be back in action on Tuesday as Southside hosts Perquimans and Plymouth will entertain conference leaders Riverside.

Plymouth 66, Southside 40
Southside coach Sean White knew heading into his game against Plymouth that slowing down the tempo would be a key factor. For two quarters his Seahawks were able to do just that but in the second half the Vikings got going and outscored Southside by 18 points to take a 66-40 victory.
“Our game plan was to slow the game down and work the ball around till we found our shot,” White said. “We came out in the first couple of minutes in the second half and looked good then it just seems we lost our composure. We started letting them run up and down the court.”
Southside was led by Rokeem Miller and Bryan Dixon who scored nine points each, while Carl McCray led Plymouth with a game-high 18 points and Moore Adrian added 16.
The No. 9 Vikings opened third quarter with a more intense approach to defense that turned into several fastbreak buckets as they outscored Southside (4-14, 0-10) 15-8 and then sprinted on a 20-9 run in the fourth quarter.
“In the first half we didn’t play ball at all. We didn’t play good defense and our shots weren’t falling … I tip my cap to Southside, they played an aggressive good game,” Plymouth coach Marvin Davenport said. “We put the press on right at the start of the second half and that was the difference in the game. That was the key, we kept pressure on the ball.”

Girls game
Plymouth    13    15    17    15         58
Southside    7    9    10    38    –    64

Vikings (58)
Kristy Gibson 11, Aviyana Smallwood 10, Cooper 5, Dixon 7, Desire Chesson 16, Barrow 9, Davis 2.
Seahawks (64)
Katisha Hyman  28, Chante Painter 20, Mourning 4, Purdue 4, Hardy 2, Clark 2, Tisdale 3, Dudley 1.

Boys game
Plymouth    12    19    15    20         66
Southside    10    13    8    9    –    40
Vikings (66)
Leseene 4, Spruill 6, Sheppard 4, Pitt 6, Carl McCray 18, Moore Adrian 16, Daniels 6, Rogerson 4, Holloway 2.
Vikings (40)
Stokes 2, White 3, Pender 4, Rouse 5, Miller 9, Vick 2, Rodman 6.