PANTEGO — After a long stretch without a game, Terra Ceia’s girls’ basketball team was hoping to see improvement from start to finish against Northeast Academy on Thursday. The Lady Knights got just that in a 47-35 win.

The Lady Eagles led by one, 7-6, at the end of the first quarter. Junior Ashley James’ layup to open the second gave Terra Ceia a lead it would hold until the final whistle. Reagan Glass, Laurel Meijer and Catherine Meijer all made baskets in the period as the Lady Knights picked up some steam.

“We’ve been off, we haven’t had a lot of practice, girls have been out sick, so we were hoping that might be the case,” coach Verm Parsons said of the way Terra Ceia settled in after eight minutes.

 

Meijer got back-to-back buckets at the rim early in the third. It helped give Terra Ceia its first double-digit lead, 26-15. The hosts would keep Northeast Academy at arm’s length throughout much of the game, but wouldn’t quite put it away.

The Lady Eagles pulled within seven, 32-25, by the end of the third. Even as they tried to chip away at their deficit and Terra Ceia got in a bit of foul trouble, Parsons and the Lady Knights never felt like the game was out of their control.

“We try to emphasize with our girls that basketball is a game of spurts,” Parsons said. “We expect us to spurt, them to spurt, and to just maintain when a team is closing. We just continue to play the game. … I told them to just play hard and create space between them and the defense.”

Glass was able to do just that in the fourth. Terra Ceia had done a lot of its damage in the post, but Glass knocked down some shots from midrange to spread the floor a bit. She made three baskets in a row for the Lady Knights, pushing their advantage to 40-30 about halfway through the final period.

“Reagan played exceptionally well,” Parsons said. “Rebounding, she was very impressive defensively. We had to sit her out for a while because of foul trouble. She made some key baskets there. We’re really pleased. She’s only a sophomore. We’re very pleased with how she’s progressing.”