CHOCOWINITY — A tremendous effort by East Carteret’s Chantae Smith was enough to put a scare into Southside but not enough to keep the Seahawks from advancing to the District Round of the NCHSAA 1-A playoffs as they topped the Mariners 71-62 on Wednesday.
Smith was stellar from the opening tip off to the final buzzer as she erupted for a game-high 38 points for the No. 13-seeded Mariners (11-14 Coastal Plains). Smith’s nine-point first-quarter effort allowed East Carteret to go up 19-17 over the No. 5 seed Seahawks (26-3), but that would change in the second quarter where Southside was able recapture the lead and hold it.
“I thought we looked really good on offense but our defense kind of just went away late in the game,” Southside coach Bill Lake said. “We just couldn’t stop (Smith), she’s a good ballplayer.”
Smith wasn’t the only one who had a big night as Southside’s Katisha Hyman poured in 30 points while Deandria Purdue scored 13 and Chante Painter chipped in 12.
Southside trailed by as many as seven points in the second quarter but made up the ground thanks to some timely buckets by Painter. The Southside senior G/F ripped off seven straight points late in the quarter to put her team ahead 33-26 and take a 42-34 lead into halftime.
The victory launches Southside into the District Round of the playoffs where it will play another mega-matchup against Riverside that comes only one week after the two teams duked it out for the Four Rivers Conference tournament title. Riverside and Southside split their two regular season matchups with each winning on the other’s home court en route to splitting the regular season conference crown. Last Friday, the Knights were able to hold off the Seahawks in the conference tournament, which in turn earned them the right to host this Friday’s showdown.

East Carteret    19    15    13    15    –    62
Southside    17    25    13    16    –    71
Mariners (62)
Chantae Smith 38, Rogers 8, Nedman 2, Williams 2, Sykes 6, Lewis 2, Currency 8.
Seahawks (71)
Deandria Purdue 13, Katisha Hyman 30, Mourning 4, Clark 7, Chante Painter 12, Blango 1, Tisdale 4.