By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
Steve Flowers could not ask for a more exciting way to get his first win.
The first-year Washington head basketball coach watched his team let a 10-point fourth quarter lead slip away, only to see the Pam Pack pull out a down-to-the-wire 53-52 victory over Northside on Friday.
“We played well and I like the fact that they don’t quit. But, we made it a little harder than it had to be.” Flowers said. “We had a big lead and we let it get away, we should have been holding the ball at the end; but I like the fight in them.”
The drama began when Northside center Tony Peele scored five points in four seconds to put his team up 52-51 with a little over a minute left in the game.
After failing to score on the ensuing possession, the Pam Pack defense came up big and got the ball back with 31 seconds to go as Flowers called for a timeout to set up the final play.
Inbounding from halfcourt, the Pack executed its coaches orders and got the ball to Josh O’Neill, whose long shot was off the mark, but eventually the ball found its way into the hands of Washington’s Ridge Hodges.
Racing against the clock, the Pam Pack guard immediately took the ball strong to the hoop and converted his shot to reclaim the lead at 53-52.
Hodges played well from start to finish as he and center Brandon Tripp teamed up to form an effective inside-outside attack.
Hodges led all scorers with 21 points, while Tripp tallied 15 for Washington (1-1, Coastal Conference).
After the Hodges’ bucket, Northside coach Mike Procter elected to try and take advantage of a Pam Pack defense that was still trying to set up.
The Panthers ran down the court and swung the ball over to Taequan Mackey who launched a long shot. but could not convert it as the clock struck zero.
“I feel like when we are in the flow of the game I just do not like to call a timeout, especially if I think we have good numbers,” Procter said. “I thought we had a good situation. I don’t think we made a good call because we had Tony Peele open, but we just didn’t get him the ball.”
The Panthers (2-1, Four Rivers Conference) were led by Peele’s 15 points and also got a strong effort from Tyreek Moore who added 14 points.
Washington 55, Northside 30
The Pam Pack busted out of the gate with an impressive first quarter as it jumped out to a 21-3 first quarter lead on Northside en route to a 55-30 victory.
Beth Batchelor and Shaquoya May were dominant early as they combined for 17 points during the Pack’s first quarter run.
May, a senior center, was impressive on both ends of the court and led Washington with 16 points, while Batchelor tallied 12 points to go along with her harassing defense.
“I thought we came out pretty strong and played pretty solid defense,” said Washington coach Allison Jones, whose team improved to 2-0 on the year. “We talk about defense a lot because our defense always gets our offense on a roll.”
That was certainly the case on Friday as the Pack defense held the Panthers (1-2) to under 10 points after two quarters as Washington went into halftime up 37-7.
“We were kind of tired, we played three games this week with a young team that only has one senior who has played a lot,” Northside coach Michelle Leathers said. “I thought we would come out with a little more energy, but when you are dealing with a young team they are still learning to be hungry. They don’t know what hungry is yet.”
Forward Rachel Hollowell led the Panthers with nine points, while Rochelle Davis added seven.
Boys game
Northside 13 8 12 19 — 52
Washington 14 16 12 11 — 53
Panthers (52)
Harvey 4, Tyreek Moore 14, Tony Peele 15, Taylor Woolard 10, Mackey 6, Moore 2.
Pam Pack (53)
Ridge Hodges 21, Brandon Tripp 15, Dunlap 2, Windley 1, O’Neill 6, Bell 3, Conner 4.
Girls game
Northside 3 4 9 14 — 30
Washington 21 16 8 10 — 55
Panthers (30)
Davis 7, Selby 2, Paul 5, R. Hollowell 9, Woolard 4, Whitney 1, Holme 2.
Pam Pack (55)
Cantrell 3, Beth Batchelor 12, Shaquoya May 16, Ward 7, Griffin 7, Redmond 4, Spruill 3, Wooden 4.