Lady Falcons snap two-game losing skid against Manning
By Drake Horton
Contributing Writer
The Darlington Lady Falcons snapped a two-game losing streak back on Tuesday, January 27 by beating the Manning Lady Monarchs 62-45.
“It was a lot better,” Darlington girls head coach Jabari Deas said on the victory. “I had to look at some things as it being my program I thought about it long and hard over two days, away from it, to see what I needed to work on to get more out of us. I felt like we were underachieving and at the end of the day it starts with me.”
Leading the Falcons to their 17-point victory was starting point guard Deena House, who finished the night with a career high 31 points to go along with her 10 assists, five rebounds and six steals.
“With this being my outbreak game from my last two games I knew I had to come out strong and help my team get that win,” House said after her career night against Manning. “I’ve been blessed.”
Judging by the way the first quarter went, however, it did not appear that Darlington was going to be able to win, let alone win by such a lopsided margin.
Both teams went scoreless in the first quarter before Manning struck first, scoring the first point at the 5:37 mark and starting off with a 6-0 lead. The Lady Falcons finally got on the scoreboard with 4:14 left in the opening quarter when House drained a wide open three.
That shot seemed to get the ball rolling not only for House, but for the rest of the Lady Falcons as Darlington ended the quarter up 11-10 and never looked backed.
In the second quarter Darlington’s offense really started to get on a roll as the Lady Falcons outscored the Lady Monarchs 17-9, including a 10-2 run in which House scored eight of those 10 points.
The third quarter was really no different as Darlington’s defense held Manning to just nine points once again while the offense mustered up 16 points extending the Lady Falcons lead over the Lady Monarchs to 16 points as well.
Manning did not lie down, however, in the fourth quarter, scoring the quarter’s first five points and driving Darlington into foul trouble. Despite the quick run and foul trouble, Darlington’s lead never fell below 10 points.
While House was electric for Darlington the entire night, it was not just her that single handily led the Lady Falcons to victory.
Darlington, who at times this season has struggled to get any meaningful production from the low-post, had a reversal of fortune against the Lady Monarchs as the Lady Falcons were able to battle consistently for rebounds and help with the scoring load.
“I felt like we were better on the glass tonight,” Deas said on how his post players did rebounding against Manning. “So we didn’t lose the rebound battle, if you don’t win it you at least want to draw even and I felt like we did that in parts.”
Courtney Graham, who Deas counts on to perform well in the low-post, was second on the team in scoring with eight points.
RECAP
Darlington was unable to make it two wins in a row this past Friday as the Lady Falcons lost on the road to the Lakewood Lady Gators by a score of 42-22.
The Lady Falcons were outscored 19-2 in the second and third quarter combined.
