Southeast Raleigh girls stay unbeaten, dominate Garner
Southeast Raleigh remained unbeaten with an overpowering victory over Garner on Tuesday night.
The Bulldogs, the state 4A runner-up the past two seasons, rolled to a 68-17 victory over the host Trojans in the Greater Neuse 4A Conference opener for both teams.
Southeast (6-0), ranked No. 2 in The N&O area poll, led 31-12 at halftime and outscored Garner (2-4) 25-0 in the third period to turn the game into a rout.
The Bulldogs were simply too tall, too quick and too talented for the Trojans.
“We really wanted to set the tone for conference play,” Southeast Raleigh coach Nicole Meyers said. “We have a new group. We lost five seniors last year. So we are really talking about setting the tone and the standard for this year’s group.
“They did an awesome job of that.”
Junior forward Tamia Hicks led the Bulldogs with 16 points, working hard on the boards for follow shots and posting up for strong moves to the basket.
“This is what we have been waiting for her to do,” Meyers said. “This year we let her know that we needed that from her. Last year it was kind of optional because we had a lot of scorers. This year we are going to need that solid post presence and it starts with her.”
Guards Kia Abrams (11 points) and Tamia Davis (10), a freshman, were also in double figures for the Bulldogs.
Garner got seven points from Khayla Guy.
Turning point
The Bulldogs were up 16-6 at the end of the first period, but really put the game away over the next two periods, outscoring the Trojans 40-6 over that stretch – including a 25-0 third period.
“The second and third quarters tend to be our best,” Meyers said. “What we are working on is the first quarter and starting it out in a dominant fashion.”
They said it
“The key to this team is that we are very balanced,” Southeast Raleigh coach Nicole Meyers said. “We have a lot of scoring from the guard position and then we also have great scoring from the post. On any given night depending on mismatches, we can exploit them.”
Three who mattered
Southeast Raleigh’s Tamia Hicks: The 6-foot junior was a presence inside for the Bulldogs. A left-handed shooter, Hicks operated from both sides of the post for baskets and also grabbed her share of rebounds against the shorter Trojans. She finished with a game-high 16 points.
Southeast Raleigh’s Kia Abrams: The senior guard had 11 points, scoring six of the Bulldogs’ first seven points in the second period when Southeast Raleigh began its push to open up the lead.
Southeast Raleigh’s Tamia Davis: The freshman guard hit three 3-pointers and finished with 10 points.
This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 9:39 AM with the headline "Southeast Raleigh girls stay unbeaten, dominate Garner."