The Washington Lady Pack used their suffocating defense to smother the Northside Lady Panthers, 57-30.

It was clear from the get go it would be a long night for the Lady Panthers as Washington jumped out to score the first eight points. After Northside scored their only two points of the quarter, Washington went on a 19-0 run.

Northside scored four points in the second, but were down 27-6 at half.

“We wanted to come in and put a lot of pressure on them,” said Lady Pack head coach Ralph Biggs. “I know she’s (Lady Panthers head coach Michelle Leathers) breaking in a lot of new players, and she’s trying to get her team together, so we kind of wanted to get a lot of pressure and not let them get into a rhythm.”

The Lady Pam Pack seemed to call off the dogs in the second half as they stopped the full-court press that the Panthers couldn’t break consistently. With the pressure off, Northside put up 24 in the second half — only five less than Washington in the second half.

“It’s a very big win,” Biggs said. “We had a tough one last night, and then come down here down to our rival — who is always ready to play us — it’s a good win for us, good confidence booster for the girls.”

All the players played for Washington — something Biggs noted as good for his team. Daria Jones was the high lady with 17 points as she dominated in the post. Tierra Wiggins had multiple highlight-reel plays as she finished with nine points. Traziya Windley finished with seven points, as well.

Northside had the high scorer in the game, though, as Rachel Lang finished with 18 of her team’s 30. Cameron Rose and Abby Mooring scored four each. Prentiss Thomas and Jessica Foster scored two each.

The Lady Panthers get a chance to bounce back soon when they host Edenton on Monday. Washington hopes to keep building early-season momentum at home on Tuesday when Greene Central comes to town. A win over the Lady Rams would complete a sweep in the home-and-home series.