Southern Durham overcame a three-point halftime deficit by outscoring Northwood 11-5 in a pivotal third quarter and never relinquished the lead down the stretch as the Lady Spartans held off a furious late rally by their host to capture a 52-48 victory in the Big Eight 3A Conference opener for both teams Thursday night in Lewis Norwood Gymnasium.
Claiming its fifth win in a row over the Lady Chargers, Southern Durham elevated its overall record to 3-1, while Northwood slipped to 2-2 for the season.
Taylor Robinson registered a double-double with 22 points and 13 rebounds while Kayla Cadlett added 10 points for the Lady Spartans, who shot just 29% (17-of-59) from the floor but converted 14-of-21 free throw attempts. Southern Durham also commanded a 36-30 advantage on the boards while committing 19 turnovers.
Jyreah Smith topped the Lady Chargers with 13 points and Chandler Adams chipped in 11 as Northwood connected on 40% (17-of-42) of its field goal attempts but was 10-of-22 from the charity stripe while turning the ball over 27 times.
After falling behind 4-0 at the outset, the Lady Chargers battled back behind Smith’s three-pointer from the left corner and jumper off the right baseline to fashion a 10-5 advantage with 1:24 to go in the initial stanza before the Lady Spartans used a pair of Robinson foul shots and a Cadlett trey to pull even at the end of the opening period.
Following five ties over the course of the second quarter, Northwood eventually eased in front 25-24 on a Smith free throw with 29.3 seconds remaining until halftime prior to Jaela Harris scoring a reverse layup at the buzzer to give the Lady Chargers a three-point lead at the break.
With Robinson tallying seven straight points to begin the third period, Southern Durham managed to seize the advantage for good and opened up a 35-30 lead on Robinson’s bank shot in the lane with 30.2 seconds left in the frame before Caitlyn Bailey’s layup nine seconds later got Northwood within three entering the last eight minutes.
The Lady Spartans put together an 11-3 run at the start of the fourth quarter to forge their biggest advantage of the night at 46-35 following Chloe Richmond’s lane jumper with 5:50 to play prior to the Lady Chargers staging a comeback that reduced the margin to 49-48 on Rae McClarty’s layup with 32.6 ticks left on the clock.
But Southern Durham would then hold Northwood scoreless in the time remaining while the Lady Spartans sank three-of-four charity tosses in the closing seconds to secure their triumph.
SD 10 14 11 17 – 52
NOR 10 17 5 16 – 48
Southern Durham (3-1, 1-0) – Ingram 1 0-0 2 Robinson 7 7-10 22 KSmith 1 1-2 3 Cadlett 4 0-1 10 Resto 1 0-0 3 Richmond 3 3-4 9 Lindsay 0 1-2 1 Stanley 0 2-2 2 Hughes 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 14-21 52.
Northwood (3-2, 0-1) – Harris 3 0-1 6 JSmith 4 2-4 13 Adams 3 5-9 11 Marve 1 0-0 3 McClarty 2 0-1 4 Bell 1 0-0 2 Snively 2 2-3 6 Bailey 1 1-4 3. Totals 17 10-22 48.
Halftime-Northwood, 27-24. Three-point goals-Southern Durham 4-16 (Cadlett 2-6, Robinson 1-1, Resto 1-7, Richmond 0-2); Northwood 4-10 (JSmith 3-4, Marve 1-1, Bell 0-1, Harris 0-1, Snively 0-3). Fouled out-Cadlett, McClarty. Rebounds-Southern Durham 36 (Robinson 13); Northwood 30 (Adams 9). Turnovers-Southern Durham 19; Northwood 27. Total fouls-Southern Durham 24; Northwood 19.