Washington bounced back from a loss at Southwest Edgecombe on Tuesday with a convincing performance at home against Southside. The girls scored 32 points in the first half to lift them to a 52-32 win over the Lady Seahawks.

Learning has been the name of the game this season for first-year coach Ralph Biggs and the Washington squad. They spent their downtime between Christmas and New Years figuring out a mode of attack that works best, as well as a lockdown defensive scheme. Both clicked in a big way.

“It’s always good when it works. You look like a genius when it works,” Biggs said.

Washington knew what it wanted to do as soon as it hit the court on Wednesday. The plan was to start by working the ball inside and getting baskets down low. That would open up opportunities on the perimeter. Charity Gardner, Naiya Whitley and Tierra Wiggins all proved to be capable sharpshooters. Each hit a 3-pointer in the second quarter to help push the Pam Pack’s halftime lead to 32-17.

“It’s something we’ve been working on,” Biggs said. “We’ve been working on trying to play inside out. We get some of the girls on the inside some touches and get some layups and then shoot a couple of 3-pointers. The girls tried it and it worked.

“It creates spacing. The girls have to come respect the 3-point line and then our girls down low have more room to maneuver, score and find angles. A lot of the girls shot the ball well. That gives us confidence. One makes a shot and then another makes a shot and the next girl makes a shot. It’s great for us.”

Spreading the court helped make Washington’s offense balanced. Wiggins led the offense with 11 points and five other players had at least 5 points in the game. Moving the ball around kept it that balanced, which made it impossible for Southside to key in on one player.

“That what we want to do. We want to make everyone dangerous,” Biggs said. “Not just one superstar or one hero. We want everybody to be dangerous and have everybody be a part of the scoring.”

The defense proved just as dangerous as the offense. With the exception of a 13-point effort in the third quarter, the Lady Seahawks were unable to score in double figures in a quarter. Sophomore Symone Ruffin scored a game-high 15 points for Southside, but the offense struggled beyond her. Michaela Dixon and Danielle Ruffin — also both sophomores — combined to add another 11 points.

Biggs learned more than just what does and doesn’t work on the court. Washington had traveled to Pinetops the night before for its 2-A Eastern Plains Conference opener at Southwest Edgecombe. The grind of back-to-back games like that is tough. The drive the team showed is quite telling.

“It’s in the girls. If they want to do it, they can do it,” Biggs said. “(Tuesday) night we didn’t have the most energy. That was the first game. (Wednesday) we had more energy than we had and it was the second game after a long bus ride. I’m learning that we have to find a way to get it out of them. They brought it for us.”

Washington now gears up to host Farmville Central on Friday while Southside will hope to snap a four-game losing streak at home against Pamlico County.