THOMASVILLE — Salisbury’s girls basketball team’s third quarter woes continued here Friday night, losing to Thomasville, 63-48.
The Hornets led 10-9, after the first quarter and trailed just 24-21 at halftime, but Coach Lakai Brice said that the third period has been the achillies’ heel throughout this season.
The Bulldogs came out in the third period with more intensity and Salisbury contributed seven turnovers to the home team’s cause.
“For some reason, we seem to come out sluggish to start the second half,” said Brice. “We were right there at halftime and I thought that we would come out strong in the third quarter, but obviously, we didn’t get it done.”
Thomasville guard Makayla Williams was a big part of the Hornets’ downfall. Williams basically went off, scoring nine of her 12 points in the third period, as the Bulldogs outscored Salisbury, 23-7, in the frame.
With the score 28-23, mid-third period, Williams had a 3-pointer, and two steal-layup combinations that broke the game open.
Salisbury, however, did not quit and when Katy Wolfe banged in a 3-pointer, making it 49-33 with 6:36 left in the game, Brice called time out.
“We had picked it back up some at the start of the fourth quarter, but after the timeout, we missed some layups and they got some easy ones in transition that really hurt us.”
Inside players Christina Coleman and Meagan Kinley led the charge for the Bulldogs (13-5, 4-4).
Coleman led all scorers with 18 points and added six rebounds. Kinley had just five points and four rebounds but was disruptive on defense for Thomasville.
Monifa Angle led Salisbury (6-16, 1-7) with 16 points, seven of which came in the fourth period as the Hornets tried to fight back.
Sierra Charles, like Angle, a guard, scored nine points and led Salisbury with 10 rebounds. Forward Bryanna Caldwell grabbed eight boards.
Freshman forward Juliana Anderson came off of the bench in the second period and seemed to spark Salisbury.
Anderson had back-to-back buckets and grabbed four rebounds in the second period but could not repeat the performance in the second half.
Turnovers were a big issue for both teams, but more so Salisbury. The Hornets turned the ball over 31 times in the game, including seven in the third quarter, when Thomasville made its move to expand the lead.
“We just had to step it up and be more aggressive after halftime,” said Thomasville coach Brandon Staton. “I asked them to play with more enthusiasm and I am proud of the way that they responded. We used their turnovers to further swing the momentum our way.”
SALISBURY (48) — Charles 9, Philpot 5, Alexander, Angle 16, Harris 5, Wolfe 5, Caldwell 4, Anderson 4, Robinson, Neely, Hightower.
THOMASVILLE (63) — Oliver 3, Thomas 5, Williams 12, Miller 1, Johnson 5, Gaymon 4, Wilder, Bowden 6, Kinley 5, Coleman 18, Burgess 4.
Salisbury 10 11 7 20 — 48
Thomasvlle 9 15 23 16 — 63