South Johnston senior Jordyn Brown (35) attempts to knock the ball away from Southern Wayne’s Elaina Lane during second-half action of their Quad County 3A quarterfinal-round tournament game Monday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne assistant varsity girls’ basketball coach Takisha Vann stretches sophomore guard Nevaeh Hines-Bass, who returned to the court after a six-game absence with a nose injury. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne senior Ta’Niyah Glaspie scores against South Johnston senior Meagan Worley on Monday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne junior Nygeria Thompson (25) tries to keep possession of a rebound during first-period play against South Johnston on Monday evening. Thompson scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Saints, who advanced to the semifinals of the Quad County 3A tournament. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Jamaiya Bass, left, dropped in 14 second-quarter points and finished the night with 27 against South Johnston on Monday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Kyren Strong scores two of her seven points against South Johnston on Monday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Amya Smith, right, looks for an open teammate as South Johnston’s Dianna Boykin defends Monday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Jamaiya Bass, right, drives to the basket against South Johnston on Monday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Nygeria Thompson, left, attempts to score against South Johnston’s Dianna Boykin during first-period play Monday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Southern Wayne’s Kyren Strong (5) gets hammered by South Johnston’s Dianna Boykin as she attempts a basket Monday evening. No foul was called on the play. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
DUDLEY — Southern Wayne toiled through another sluggish start Monday evening.Luckily, the shots eventually began to fall.
Jamaiya Bass pumped in a game- and season-high 27 points and helped propel the Saints past South Johnston, 61-27, in quarterfinal-round play of the 2023 Quad County 3A girls’ basketball tournament.
The second-seeded Saints (17-7 overall) return home Wednesday to face Wilson Hunt. Tip-off is 6 p.m. at “The Halo.”
In other opening-round games: Charles B. Aycock upset East Wake 44-29, Hunt outlasted West Johnston 65-57 and top-seeded Fike dismantled South Johnston, 69-7.
“A big win for us … trying to get that momentum back after that loss Friday night [at Aycock],” said SW head coach Ricky Lofton, whose teams are an impressive 24-4 at home over the past three seasons.
Southern Wayne missed 15 of its first 18 shots from the floor, but managed to scratch out a 15-6 lead after eight minutes.
Emma Thornton’s “and-1” play closed the gap to 15-9 just after the second quarter tipped off. The Saints responded with a monster 15-2 run that included three long-range connections from Bass and offensive cutbacks from Glaspie and Nygeria Thompson.
The trio combined for 20 points during the surge.
“It takes a while for them to get warmed up, but at least they’re coming around,” Lofton said. “I’d rather for it to be at the end instead of the beginning. Everybody played better [tonight]. We moved the ball like we should, got open shots, Bass had a great game knocking the threes down.
“We played good defense.”
Nevaeh Hines-Bass made her return. The sophomore guard sat out six consecutive games after she suffered a hairline nose fracture against East Wake in late January.
The soft-spoken floor general entered with 4:01 remaining before halftime. She ended the night with five assists, two steals and a 3-pointer that she banked off the glass after missing her previous five shots.
“She’s rusty right now,” Lofton said. “We were able to move Noodle [Ta’Niyah Glaspie] back into the paint so she could get more rebounds. That took her away from handling the ball.
“She’s going to make a big difference coming back.”
Thompson contributed 14 points, eight rebounds and handed out two assists. Glaspie just missed a double-double with eight points, 10 rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocked shots.
The backcourt tandem of Kyren Strong and Elaina Lane combined for eight of the team’s 22 steals. Strong provided seven points. Lane doled out three assists.
Southern Wayne earned its third consecutive tournament semifinal berth and fourth overall since 2013. Athletic directors canceled tournaments in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 related issues.
Dianna Boykin and Thornton tallied nine and six points, respectively, for the seventh-seeded Trojans. South Johnston finished 3-19 overall, including a 1-10 mark in road contests.
