CHOCOWINITY — It will be its first home game of the season when Southside hosts 1-A Coastal Plains Conference foe Riverside on Tuesday. All sorts of scheduling conflicts stemming mostly from football season cost the team its first few home games of the season.

Seven road games — including two in conference — is a challenge for a young Lady Seahawks team. Even so, they’ve managed to take a 5-2 (1-1 CPC) record into the New Year. There’s positive momentum heading into the crux of the league schedule. Coach Milton Ruffin hopes finally playing at home will compound it.

“I think they’re pretty excited,” he said. “I told them, we played seven on the road and ended up 5-2. That’s good. There’s a lot of teams out there that have already played home games. I’m happy with a 5-2 record.”

Freshman Sarah Petty added: “I’m excited because my friends don’t usually come to the away games. At the home games, we get to not show off, but kind of show what we’ve learned in these seven games.”

The Lady Knights will be a tough matchup coming off of the Christmas break. Demetria Bland leads them with 17.3 points per game. Like Southside guard Symone Ruffin, she likes to use defense to fuel offense. She’s averaging 4.1 steals per game. Riverside also has senior Zaria Williams averaging over 11 points per game.

Then, on Friday, the Lady Seahawks get to host rival Northside in front of what should be a raucous crowd for the second home game of the campaign.

“Northside is always a rivalry game. No matter what kind of team you have, both teams will play hard,” Ruffin said. “I’ll be looking forward to that, but we have to make sure we take care of Riverside first.”

Southside is no stranger to tough matchups. The Lady Seahawks have seen plenty of tough foes in their early-season travels. They’ve already gotten a trip to 1-A runner up Pamlico County out of the way. They emerged victorious in an overtime bout with Jones Senior.

Most recently, Southside went down to the wire with a physical Edenton team in the second day of South Creek’s Christmas tournament. Despite falling short in a 50-48 loss, the Lady Seahawks fought from start to end. They endured injuries to key players and had others step up.

If anything, this first half of the season has provided a bevy of lessons for the freshmen on the team. They’ve had to learn on the fly in what’s been a trial by fire.

“I’ve learned that you’ve got to be tough under the basket,” Petty said. She’s been competitive on the boards as she’s averaged 4.7 rebounds per game. “Even if you get pushed down, you’ve still got to get back up.”

Southside will have to continue working through some injuries. Both Symone and Danielle Ruffin have been nursing ailments as of late. Sophomore Shantel Cannon has done well to fill the void when they’re not on the court.

“Danielle has a problem with her knee. She had it at the beginning of the season,” Ruffin said. “She’s still trying to play. … Symone sprained her ankle when we played Jones Senior in our first conference game. It’s nagging.”

Southside hosts Riverside on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Friday’s game against Northside is also set to tip off at 6 p.m.