Lineup shuffling sparks South girls to win
In his anger, South girls coach Antwain Scales might have found something that works.
Unhappy with the play of his starters recently, Scales replaced four of the five players on the first unit — everyone except freshman Kirea Rogers — for Friday night's game at Northwest.
The result? Sparked by their bench play, the Titans posted a 39-28 win over the Grizzlies.
"Hopefully we buy in now," Scales said. "Hopefully this means some type of permanent change in our attitude."
Tied 17-17 at halftime, Northwest took a brief lead late in the third quarter after a free throw from Diamond Maples made the score 24-23, but South took the lead back as time ran out on a basket by Jessa Molina.
With South leading 28-26 midway through the fourth quarter, another Molina basket sparked an 8-0 game-ending run for South that Northwest didn't have an answer to.
"Turnovers, obviously, but also South's pressure on the ball really hurt us tonight," Northwest coach Jim Mernagh said. "We got some good looks that didn't fall but you have to credit South, they did a really good job tonight."
Molina, a 6-foot-2 senior and Division I signee at Binghamton, was one of the four players Scales benched, and led all scorers with 12 points. Odyssey Trussel added eight points for the Titans.
Trekia Nolen led the Grizzlies with seven points.
"We just had to start moving the ball around more, get it going inside and out and not be so predictable," Molina said. "I think we just really wanted this tonight and went out and fought hard It feels awesome because this isn't a team we usually beat."
South (3-2, 2-2) 9 8 8 14 — 39 Northwest (3-2, 3-2) 10 7 7 4 — 28
SOUTH: Dodson 3 1-3 7, Broehl 0 0-1 0, Scales 1 0-0 3, Rogers 1 3-10 5, Kitchen 1 0-0 2, Molina 6 0-1 12, Trussel 1 6-8 8, Reed 0 2-2 2. Totals 13 (1) 12-25 39.
NORTHWEST: Tran 1 0-2 3, Harbert 1 1-2 3, Nolen 2 3-4 7, Simpkins 3 0-0 6, Cotman 1 0-2 2, Taylor 3 0-0 6, Maples 0 1-2 1 Totals 11 (1) 5-12 28.