WINDSOR – Bertie High Girls Basketball Coach Alice Lyons-Bennett was sporting a protective orthopedic boot on her right foot last week — a la New England Patriots Super Bowl quarterback Tom Brady. 

Not to worry: Lyons-Bennett says it’s for a recurring mild case of Achilles tendonitis she suffers from. 

&uot;It means I can’t stomp on the sidelines,&uot; she added with a smile.

Friday night in Windsor, Lyons-Bennett could’ve worn fuzzy rabbit slippers for all the stomping she needed to do as her Lady Falcons ran their record to 11-5 and notched their fifth Northeastern Coastal Conference basketball win of the season, 62-49, over visiting Northeastern.

The Lady Falcons were led by junior guard Tiera Brown with 15 points and 14 more from Satora Swain and Yashanti Bridgers.  Devona Brown chipped in 10 to complete the double figure scoring.  Gina Jordan led Northeastern with 24.

Bertie didn’t display it’s running game early in the contest. It made for a low scoring affair, as it was just 9-8 in Bertie’s favor after the first quarter.

The Lady Falcons opened a bit more of a cushion in the second quarter thanks to Bridgers getting a chance to operate better in the low-post. A pair of turnaround jumpers in the lane from the center and Bertie had it’s biggest lead of the half at six, 18-12.  The Eagles, however, closed out the quarter with a run of their own to keep Bertie within their sights at halftime, 22-19.

Sloppy ball-handling marked Northeastern’s play in the third quarter and the Lady Falcons took advantage, turning one Eagles turnover after another into easy baskets and pushing the lead to 39-32 after three periods of play.

The run continued into the final frame, with Bertie building a lead of as many at 12 with under five minutes remaining, 48-36, on a driving lay-up by Swain.  As Lyons-Bennett began to substitute liberally, Jordan began to heat up for the Lady Eagles; and though she was scoring, the rest of her team could never catch fire, and Bertie kept the lead in double-digits.

Lyons-Bennett had to also be impressed with her team’s cool when it came to foul shots, where Bertie closed out the game making nine of it’s last 11 points – the lone field-goal being an acrobatic off-balance shot by Brown with a Northeastern defender hanging on her arm that went up above the backboard and swished softly thru the twine on the way down.

In between, after missing the front end of a two-shot free-throw attempt, the Lady Falcons didn’t miss again for the rest of the night making nine in a row and closing it out for the thirteen-point win.

&uot;They played well despite the short week (because of the MLK holiday),&uot; said Lyons-Bennett.  &uot;I think they’re ready for the playoffs already.&uot;

 

Lady Falcons (62): Tiera Brown – 15, Satora Swain – 14, Yashonti Bridgers – 14, Devona Bond -11, Mia Harrell – 6, Ayanna Wilson – 2.

Lady Eagles (49): Gina Jordan – 24, Brandi Williams – 8, Mickayla Whedbee – 6, Hannah Chappell – 4, Caitlin Borg – 3, Devon Cole – 2, Tiffany Perry – 2