Winning Region 7-4A games has become a tradition for the South Pike Lady Eagles — a tradition head coach Marcus Flippin isn’t ready to see end anytime soon.
Raven Ashley scored 14 of her 16 points in the first half and Tomka Cook chipped in 16 points as well to lead the South Pike Eagles to a 60-43 victory over Port Gibson in the teams’ Region 7-4A opener Tuesday night at the Willie E. Jones Coliseum.
It was South Pike’s 30th consecutive Region 7-4A victory. The Lady Eagles have not lost a division game since a 48-46 defeat to Wilkinson County on Jan. 16, 2007 — one year prior to the Lady Eagles’ state championship season of 2007-08.
“It’s good to get the first district game under our belts,” Flippin said after the Lady Eagles improved to 12-4 on the season. “We have a lot of young kids. We have to make them understand what you’re playing for.
“We want to finish first or second in our district and get to the playoffs,” Flippin added. “Winning our district games is a tradition here.”
There was little doubt that the winning streak would continue as South Pike moved out to a 7-0 lead on LaDestine Gordon’s jumper from the right wing. South Pike led 20-10 when Ashley closed the first quarter with one of her four three-pointers, this one from the right wing as the buzzer sounded.
Ashley added another three to balloon the lead to 25-12. Kevenesha Felder dropped in a baseline jumper to make it 35-16.
The Lady Eagles led 37-24 at halftime.
The dominance continued in the third quarter as the South Pike reserves finished off Port Gibson. Milesha McNulty pulled down one of her five rebounds and drained a baseline jumper to push South Pike’s lead to 41-27 with 5:17 left in the third period.
South Pike also debuted a new 3-2 zone defense that held Port Gibson to its second lowest point total of the season. The Lady Blue Waves shot just 21 percent (6-of-28) from the floor in the second half and made just one three pointer in the game.
“We just wanted to get a different look,” Flippin said of his team’s new defense. “It allowed us to control the perimeter better.”
Flippin said the Lady Eagles would get a better idea of where they stand in the 7-4A pecking order when they visit Columbia on Friday night. He added that he didn’t expect the pressures of the winning streak to affect his team.
“These kids are still young,” he said. “They just want to get out there and play. They don’t know anything about pressure yet.”
