By Devlin Francis ’15 | Social Media Director

Improving to 3-0, the Girls Varsity Basketball team defeated Port Huron Northern 56-49 on Friday Dec. 6 and Farmington Harrison 61-55 on Saturday Dec. 7.

“This was a tough, hard fought win,” said Interim Head Coach Bruce Pelto after the Port Huron Northern game.

The girls started off the game by leading the Port Huron Northern 16-13 after the first quarter, however they were held to only 4 points in the second quarter. They went into halftime trailing 22-20, Pelto said.

“We came out slow, but I’m proud of how we picked it up in the second half,” said Bre Andrews ‘14.

South exploded during the 3rd Quarter, dropping 18 points on Port Huron Northern, and taking the lead 38-36. As a team they had several defensive stops and forced turnovers which lead to multiple fast break scores.

“We talked about the idea that one players not going to make the difference, we need all five on the same page,” said Pelto. “There was a lot more of that, especially on the defensive end. We cranked up the pressure, we felt we had an advantage at the guard position, so our guards went to work.”

With 2:05 left in the 3rd, captain Cierra Rice ’15 raced down the court after a steal and scored an easy two on a layup, giving South the lead, 33-32. That basket also set the tone for the remainder of the game, as South lead the entire time forward.

“Scoring in transition is always important,” said Rice. “It’s part of what we run defensively, it’s that we want to force them (the other team) to make mistakes, which we turn into points.”

Rice lead all players in scoring with 27 points.

South went on to beat Farmington Harrison 61-55 the following night.

Going forward the team needs to focus on playing more selflessly and developing a stronger offensive presence, Rice said.

“Our focus is playing as one team, instead of as individuals; we want to share the ball, get the ball around, get good movement, and get easy buckets for everybody” said Rice. “Shot selection can also improve, we aren’t doing that bad, but we can always get better. That and rebounding, especially on offense to get second chances when our shots don’t fall.”

For now the team can rely on their strong defense to keep them in games, Pelto said.

“While we’re still trying to find ourselves offensively, we can hang our hats, at least early in the season, on our defense,” said Pelto. “We’re doing an excellent job pressuring the other teams, but we still need to develop an offense.”

South will play Robichaud High School next on Saturday Dec. 14.

Photos by Sean Moran, Devlin Francis, Will Boyce, all ’15.