AHOSKIE – Brittany Taylor and Jessica Misse showed why Ridgecroft’s varsity girls continue to have one of the toughest defenses in the Roanoke-Chowan area here Friday night.

Taylor and Misse combined to force nearly half of Pungo Christian Academy’s 38 turnovers and sophomore sharpshooter Sarah Beth Greene turned them into easy points on the other end to lead the Lady Rams to an easy 41-24 Tarheel Independent Conference victory.

&uot;We played extremely well tonight, at times,&uot; veteran Ridgecroft mentor Doug Cobbs said. &uot;At other times, we played as bad as we can.

&uot;Over-all it was a good effort,&uot; he added. &uot;A win is a win.&uot;

This victory was not in doubt six minutes into the contest as the Lady Rams raced out to an 8-2 advantage and never looked back.

Greene rolled off four unanswered to break open a tie game and give Ridgecroft a 6-2 lead before Landis Joyner added a hoop o push the advantage to 8-2.

Holly Howell stopped the run with a hoop for the Lady Raiders at the 2:09 mark of the first quarter, but Pungo wouldn’t score again until the closing seconds of the quarter.

Meanwhile, Misse and senior Kathryn Vick added hoops for the home team to push the advantage to 12-4.

Alison Phelps cut the lead to six when she buried a hoop for PCA at the five-second mark of the quarter.

Misse was strong on the boards during the first quarter, pulling down four of her eight boards on the night to help the Lady Rams out-rebound their opponents 9-to-5.

Greene continued her offensive prowess in the second, hitting the first two shots, including converting on a fast-break pass from Joyner, to put Ridgecroft up 16-6.

The Lady Raiders got to within six (16-10) after Shantel Fortescue hit a hoop and Howell buried a pair of free throws.

The Lady Rams answered with a 7-1 run that all but sealed the victory by the half. Greene had the only score from the floor while Misse and Taylor added shots from the charity stripe.

In all, Ridgecroft forced 38 turnovers, out-rebounded PCA 30-19 and out-shot the Lady Raiders 23 percent to 14 percent.

The 14 percent shooting included holding Pungo to only one field goal in the second half.

Lady Rams (41)

Sarah Beth Greene – 14, Jessica Misse – 10, M. Groninger – 4, K. Lowe – 4, S. Northcott – 3, K. Vick – 2, B. Taylor – 2, L. Joyner – 2

Lady Raiders (24)

Holly Howell – 12, H. Johnson – 6, S. Fortescue – 3, A. Phelps – 2, V. Roupe – 1

Ridgecroft races past Pungo

In the varsity boys’ contest, veteran mentor Dave Rowzie was able to watch his entire team get playing time as the Rams raced out to an early lead and cruised to a 56-17 win.

&uot;It was nice to get everybody the opportunity to have as much playing time as they did tonight,&uot; he said. &uot;Anytime you win, it helps you.&uot;

The Rams jumped up early, leading 18-4 after the first quarter and holding a 26-12 advantage at the intermission.

Freshman Chris Hill (11) and Mac Griffin (10) paced the Rams in a balanced scoring attack while Hill Homewood added eight and Sholes Homewood and Josh Brittenham added six each.

Ridgecroft (56)

Chris Hill – 11, Mac Griffin – 10, H. Homewood – 8, S. Homewood – 6, J. Brittenham – 6, C. Mizelle – 5, J. Hill – 5, J. Courtright – 3, I. Kinlaw – 2

Pungo (17)

Michael Sadler – 10, K. Elliot – 3, P. Harris – 2, B. Winslow – 2