Southern Wayne appears to be back on track.
After dropping their last two games, the Saints used a strong fourth-quarter effort to fend off Eastern Wayne and get a 46-42 victory on Friday evening.
It was the Saints’ first road victory of the season.
“We had a lot of people step up,” Southern Wayne assistant coach Takisha Vann said. “We’ve been working on crunch-time situations, and I think we’re getting better at that.”
Going into the fourth quarter, Southern Wayne led 30-26, and the game’s momentum seemed to be in the Saints’ hands., but the Warriors battled back.
Eastern Wayne used an 11-3 run to take a 37-33 lead with five minutes left in the game.
“Eastern Wayne put up a good fight, and I can’t take anything away from them because they wanted it just as badly as we did,” Vann said. “Eastern Wayne put a lot of pressure on us.”
However, the Saints answered, and with 1:20 remaining in the game, Jamaiya Bess sank to free throws to give the Saints back the lead for good.
Ty’lisha Maye extended the Saints’ lead with a free throw and a layup.
“I don’t know what it is, but sometimes we’re a fourth-quarter or second-half team, but we have to stop doing that because that has gotten us in a couple of games this season,” Vann said.
Bess collected a game-high 15 points. Maye finished the night with 14 points, while Aleesha Boyette contributed seven points.
Jada Kent paced Eastern Wayne with 11 points. Niya Ward scored eight points, and Nay Jones added seven points.
The Saints (5-4 overall) swept the regular-season series from the Warriors (0-7). Both squads are back in action on Tuesday. Southern Wayne hosts South Central (7-2), while Eastern Wayne travels to New Bern (3-5)
