GIRLS' BASKETBALL: Golden Falcons avenge loss to Saints

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on January 25, 2017 9:57 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- Conventional wisdom would tell you that a seven-player roster is not enough to win a tight game.

C.B. Aycock players took deep breaths, and were often bent at the waist as they battled against Southern Wayne Tuesday night. But there's one thing to remember about the Golden Falcons -- their heart is bigger than their lungs.

Battling through fatigue and an unusually hot gym, CBA grinded its way to a 41-37 victory and avenged a 33-point loss to the Saints earlier this season.

"Our girls really wanted that win," said CBA head coach Tangela Faulkner. "It was an intense game from start to finish...I had to remind (my team), (Southern Wayne) is hot, too. They're just as hot as you and just as tired as you are. You just have to push and not give it to them."

If anything indicates weariness, it's turnovers. And both teams made careless mistakes. The first quarter witnessed 16 combined turnovers from both teams -- nine for CBA and seven for the Southern Wayne.

The back-and-forth errors kept the game close, but a key 3-pointer by Cassandra Lassiter gave the Golden Falcons a 24-21 lead going into halftime.

"We crashed the boards, but we created a lot of turnovers in the first quarter alone," Faulkner said. "And we talked about them protecting the ball better, and we did to a certain extent."

Fighting through the exhaustion, CBA made its push in the third quarter. The Golden Falcons opened the frame with a 6-0 run, and created a cushion that the Saints couldn't overcome.

By the beginning of the fourth quarter, CBA held an 11-point lead and managed to swat away any attempts of a comeback by Southern Wayne.

"Just focus," said Saints' assistant coach Takisha Vann. "Free throws and intensity -- we just didn't come to play tonight. We came out and we never really got it going. We struggled offensively, and little key things that we should've been doing that hurt us."

Lassiter -- who scored eight points in the third quarter -- finished with a game-high 23 points. Southern Wayne's Iyahna Bess and Kiara Wallace scored 11 points apiece.

After two consecutive losses to begin 2017, the Golden Falcons have responded with key victories over Eastern Wayne and now Southern Wayne.

Faulkner described Wednesday's play as sloppy, but she loved the fight her team showed -- a much required attribute in a county rivalry.

"We've had our hiccups early on in the season," Faulkner said. "And I told them, 'Now, this is where the rubber meets the road.' We have to come straight out the gate. And I believe my girls came out ready to play."