CHOCOWINITY — The Seahawks charged hard in the third quarter, but ran out of steam in the fourth as they fell 44-39 to Columbia in Southside’s home opener on Tuesday.
The Seahawks (1-1) trailed a majority of the game, but used an 8-0 run late in the third quarter to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 30-29 heading into the final frame. However, playing in a steamy gymnasium, Southside, who was playing its second straight game, would run out of steam in the final stanza.
“Starting around the end of the third quarter I could tell our girls were starting to run out of gas,” Southside coach Bill Lake said. “The gym was really hot tonight, it was just one of those things. I need to develop my bench more so I can give those kids a rest.”
Behind the stellar play of guard Alexa Foor, who had six fourth-quarter points, the Wildcats slowly pulled away.
Foor drove down the lane for an easy bucket at the 1:33 mark to expand the lead to 42-35.
Southside cut the deficit to 42-39 when Breana Blango scored off an Angelica Tisdale pass for a fastbreak bucket with :15 remaining in the game.
The Seahawks fouled on the ensuing play, sending Foor to the line with 10 seconds left. Foor would miss her three throw attempts, but the Wildcats retained possession of the ball and were able to run out the clock.
Foor scored 12 points for Columbia, while Lakita Basnight tallied 13.
Southside was led by F/C Kyajia Mourning, who tallied a game-high 16 points, while Blango added nine.
“Mourning stepped up and scored tonight,” Lake said. “Tia Hardy was probably our leader in assists tonight and made some good cuts and was able to get the ball and dump it off to Mourning.”
The Seahawks struggled early and trailed 28-23 after the first two quarters, and 30-21 midway through the third. However, Southside found an extra gear near the end of the quarter as a three-pointer by Precious Gaynor was followed up by a Blango three-point play to bring Southside within a point of the Wildcats, 30-29.
“I told the girls at the half that we had to be more aggressive on offense,” Lake said. “We were being pretty aggressive on defense but we weren’t carrying it over to our offense.
“We put in a new offense this year and this was the first time they ran it. This is the first time they ran the plays in the game and we’re seeing improvements.”

Columbia    12    11    7    14    —    44
Southside    8    10    11    10    —    39

Wildcats (44)
Moran 7, White 7, Alexa Foor 12, Lakita Basnight 13, Spruill 4, Maltman 2.
Seahawks (39)
Harris 2, Kyajia Mourning 16, Olds 2, Hardy 6, Blango 9, Gaynor 4.