Comeback falls short for CHHS girls

CORINTH HOLDERS -- Corinth Holders’ girls played their best quarter of the season on Friday night.

The Pirates scored 20 points, their highest total in any eight-minute span this year, but a 16-point deficit was too much to overcome. Roanoke Rapids got a big contribution from point guard Veronica Edmonds in the fourth and held on for a 45-39 Northern Carolina 2-A Conference victory.

Corinth dropped to 2-19 overall and 2-10 in the conference.

“When I look back at our season to date, every game we have had one bad quarter and tonight it was the first,” said Pirates’ coach Brandy Smith. “We changed some things defensively and offensively we executed better in the last quarter, but I wonder what would happen if we could play four good quarters of basketball.”

Corinth turned the ball over on five of its first six possessions and finished with 10 in the first quarter as Roanoke Rapids built a 12-2 lead behind Karissa Moss, Jessica Scales, Ariel Potter and Edmonds. The Pirates only points came at 4:23 on a basket by Morgan Hester.

Kris Neal sparked the home team in the second quarter on the defensive end with two rebounds and two steals, and Cyarra Pierson tallied seven points in a three-minute stretch while Sam Gibson added a free throw and Hester chipped in a basket that tied the score at 12-all.

But turnovers on the next two possessions resulted in 3-pointers by Scales and Kallie Arthur. The Jackets led 22-13 at halftime as Corinth managed just one point – a free throw by Gibson – in the final 5:12 of the first half.

Roanoke Rapids led 32-19 after three quarters and held a 37-21 cushion when Corinth began its comeback with 5:27 left.

Pierson, Gibson and Holly Price all contributed offensively in a 12-3 flurry that cut the Jackets’ advantage to seven (40-33) with 1:13 left.

A Price free throw following a Roanoke Rapids miscue made it 40-34 with 1:09 left.

The Jackets broke that momentum and the Corinth press when Edmonds scored with 1:03 remaining.

Gibson’s free throw and a 3-pointer by Pierson made it 42-38 with 36.7 seconds showing, but Edmonds made three of free throws in the remaining time to help secure the victory.

Edmonds led all scorers with 19 points, and Moss and Potter added seven each for Roanoke Rapids.

Pierson paced Corinth Holders with 16 points while Gibson added 10. Price chipped six and Hester five.

The Pirates committed 25 turnovers while Roanaoke Rapids had 19.