By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
CHOCOWINITY — A tremendous fourth-quarter effort by Aaron Baker helped Roanoke survive its battle with a feisty Southside squad and clinch the Atlantic Conference regular season title with a 71-63 victory in Chocowinity.
The Seahawks’ Willie Ruffin gave Roanoke a scare in the third when he erupted for 12 points to give the Seahawks a 48-45 lead heading into the final stanza, but Baker answered by scoring 10 of his game-high 32 points in the last eight minute to help the Redskins (13-8, 10-3) lock up the conference crown.
Despite losing, the Seahawks also built up some self esteem as they were able to hang with one of the top teams in the area for four quarters.
Aside from Ruffin, who finished the game with 12 points, Southside got a good effort from Dash Spruill, Teon Aaron and Curtis Meyers.
Spruill was explosive all night and poured in a team-high 15 points, while Aaron (10 points) and Myers (11 points) were a force in the paint.
The two teams exchanged leads for the early part of the fourth quarter, but Roanoke took over down the stretch. The Redskins finally put away the Seahawks when Aaron Oden broke free for a leaping one-handed dunk that sent the crowd into a frenzy and put the Redskins up 59-52 with less than two minutes left in the game.
Seahawks win OT thriller
Under third-year coach Bill Lake Southside has never beaten Roanoke, but on Wednesday the Seahawks picked a good time to break the losing skid as they pulled out a 60-59 overtime victory over the Redskins to take possession of second place in the Atlantic Conference.
Freshman point guard Chante Painter came off the bench and scored all six of her points in the extra session to hand Lake his first victory over Roanoke.
Painter took over point guard duties for fellow freshman Katisha Hyman, who with the score tied at 51, fouled out with 1:57 left to play in the fourth quarter.
Hyman had a big-time game and led the Seahawks (14-6, 6-4) with 21 points.
With their top scorer on the bench, Southside was able to hang even with the Redskins, who were led by Emoni Jones and Kierra Land.
Jones and Land were unstoppable all night, and combined for 48 of the Redskins 59 points. Land paced Roanoke (12-9, 5-5) with 25 points, while Jones added 23.
In overtime, Jaquandra Council scored four points to help the Redskins go up 57-54, but the Redskins were out-scored 6-2 in the final 1:30 seconds.
Roanoke 13 18 14 26 — 71
Southside 8 15 25 15 — 63
Redskins (71)
Aaron Oden 15, Aaron Baker 32, Daniels 5, Perkins 7, T. Sheppard 3, Sessons 7.
Seahawks (63)
Teon Aaron 10, Dash Spruill 15, Windley 5, Curtis Myers 11, McCullough 8, Willie Ruffin 12, Reddick 2.
Girls
Roanoke 11 12 19 11 6 — 59
Southside 14 9 15 15 7 — 60
Redskins (59)
Kierra Land 25, Emoni Jones 23, Council 2, Roberson 2, Baker 1, Griffin 5.
Seahawks (60)
Tamisha Cradle 11, Katisha Hyman 21, Hodges 4, Valerie Ruffin 10, Avery 7, Whitney 3, Harding 2, Painter 6.