“When we wake up, we wake up,” St. Pauls coach Mike Ratley said. “I don’t know what it is, but we haven’t been starting games well lately. We didn’t play good in the first quarter at Fairmont either last week.”
Led by Bianca Palazzola’s dominance in the paint, St. Pauls found its rhythm four minutes in and thanks to a 14-0 run to open the third quarter, remained unbeaten in the Three Rives Conference with a 56-37 victory.
“You never know what to expect in a rivalry game and that kind of scared us,” Ratley said. “Having already played these girls twice, you figured they’d throw something new at us.”
After jumping out to an early lead, the Red Devils (9-9, 3-3) never recovered against St. Pauls’ full-court press and struggled at the offensive end in the second half. For the game, Red Springs turned it over 27 times.
“Foul trouble really hurt us,” Red Springs coach Katasha Oxendine said. “We started out good, then (St. Pauls) got on us. We didn’t have many ball-handlers on the floor against their defense.”
A season-high 11 players scored for the Bulldogs (11-6, 6-0), who won their sixth straight game since falling to Lumberton in the Robeson County Shootout title game. Palazzola led the way with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Khadijah Priest tallied 11 points and eight rebounds. Four more league wins for the Bulldogs solidifies the No. 1 seed out of the Three Rivers for the postseason and more importantly, seals a conference championship.
“We’re playing the best we’ve played since Christmas,” Ratley said. “We need to keep this up.”
Baker, Lowery lead Red Devils to win
Jameson Baker and Quinn Lowery combined for 43 points Friday as the Red Springs boys basketball team won their second game of the season, a 60-51 victory over St. Pauls.
The Red Devils (2-14, 2-4) held the Bulldogs without a field goal for a span of 4:14 in the final quarter to push a two-point lead to nine. St. Pauls (3-14, 2-4) pulled to within five at 53-48 with 1:44 to play, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would get.
St. Pauls made just 4-of-21 free throws and lost for the fifth consecutive outing. Trailing 25-19 midway through the second quarter, Baker led an 8-0 Red Devils run with a pair of 3-pointers to highlight a 21-point effort. Twelve of Lowery’s game-high 22 points came at the charity stripe as Red Springs sealed the win late with free throws.
Antonio Henderson hit four 3-pointers and scored 18 points for St. Pauls. Malik Livingston was the only other Bulldog in double figures with 12.
Reach Staff writer Brad Crawford at 910-272-6119 or at bcrawford@heartlandpublications.com
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