On Tuesday, Feb. 25, Southside boys and girls played their last home basketball games against Fayetteville. To start off the girls’ game, Fayetteville retrieved the ball during tip-off and eventually made the first score of the game from a rebound off of a missed free-throw. Maliyah Tye scored a three-pointer to give the Lady Mavs their first points on the scoreboard.
At the start of the second quarter, Southside started with the ball, but it got stolen by Fayetteville. Not too long into the second quarter, Southside started to rack up some fouls with four girls with two fouls each. The second quarter was pretty dry for Southside as they only scored an additional two points. Meanwhile, Fayetteville scored up to 51 points by the end of the second quarter, making the score 12-51 by halftime.
Fayetteville started with the ball at the beginning of the third quarter and immediately scored a three-pointer. Adams then got her fourth personal foul, turning the ball over to Fayetteville, in which they scored another three points. Towards the end of third, Tye stole the ball and made an excellent down-the-court pass to Brewer, scoring two points for Southside. With seven seconds left in third, Mekaila Robinson got her fourth personal foul, which made that two girls from Southside with four personal fouls.
The entire fourth quarter had a running clock, as Fayetteville made great drives to the basket. However, the Lady Mavs were in a bit of a dry spell. Brewer made a long pass, which got stolen by Fayetteville. Fayetteville drove the ball down the court and Brewer tipped the ball out of balance. The ball got thrown in by Fayetteville with five seconds left in the game, and they scored another two points as the buzzer went off. Southside only scored another two points throughout the fourth quarter, both from free-throw shots. The Lady Mavs game ended with a score of 21-84.
After the girls’ basketball game, the senior night ceremony announced all seniors involved in Belles, Cheer, and Basketball. Each senior’s parents escorted them down the court as the announcer shared their college plans, including each of their majors.
Senior basketball player, Charlize Buie, reflects, ¨it´s bittersweet because it’s the end of all of us, but we’re also moving on to bigger and better things for the future.¨
Her advice to future seniors is ¨to enjoy every moment and not take it for granted, and make the most memories because it’s not forever.¨
Buie states her most memorable moments were ¨making memories with different friends, coming from a smaller school,¨ she continues, ¨I treasure the memories I made on teams like basketball and tennis. I created a lot of bonds on both teams.¨
As the boys’ game began, Fayetteville came out early and scored a basket to take a 2-0 lead, which was a good indicator of what was to come. Southside tried to keep up, but Fayetteville’s offense was too strong in the first quarter. Fayetteville continued to score, which gave them an 18-8 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Fayetteville continued their run, expanding their lead to 25-8 in the middle of the second quarter. This continued all the way to halftime, ending with a 36-14 lead.
During halftime of the boys’ basketball game, the seniors on Cheer and Belles performed for their last time at Southside. The cheer team gave an outstanding performance as the seniors shouted their own chant about leaving Southside. On top of that, the stunts and tumbling were quite impressive. After Cheer performed, the senior Belles gave an emotional lyrical performance. Their dance definitely brought some people to tears as they said their last goodbyes.
In the middle of the third quarter, Jayvyn Bullock made a nice drive and no-look assist to Cody Sums down low. Shortly after, Bullock shot a deep three-pointer, leading to Southside scoring seven consecutive points to narrow down the lead to 46-21.
However, that was the most Southside could come back. Fayetteville continued to hold their large lead for the rest of fourth with a score of 38-67.