Christmas came early for Southside girls coach Steve Brown and his Mavericks.

The Mavericks finally got that elusive first win of the season, and it came at an opportune time. Junior guard Hannah Schmidt’s 3-point basket with 20 seconds left gave Southside a 63-62 lead and the Mavs went on to a 65-62 win against Alma at Southside Gym.

“For the most part, they’ve been fighting all year long. ... Honestly, this was my Christmas wish for them; I wanted them to get that (bad) taste out of their mouth going into the holiday,” Brown said.

“I’m really proud of the effort they gave (Tuesday) and found a way to get it done when they needed to. ... Sometimes, something like this will kind of get you over the hump.”

Southside (1-9) had trailed by nine points entering the fourth quarter, and were down by seven with four minutes to go and six with two minutes left.

But the Mavs got some big 3's from Kelly Carson and Hannah Rainwater; then with 45 seconds left, Carson converted a three-point play to cut Southside’s deficit to one point, 61-60.

Seconds later, Alma’s Sierra Bailey drew a foul and went to the line in a one-and-one situation. She made the first to put Alma (2-8) up two but the second one didn’t go through, and Southside’s Moorea Kleck got the rebound.

On the other side, the Mavs’ Erin Graham received the ball in the lane but was heavily guarded. At the last instant, Graham spotted Schmidt open in the right corner, and Schmidt launched a shot that hit nothing but net, putting the Mavs in front, 63-62.

“It just happened; I don’t take any credit for that,” Schmidt said. “It was all my team. ... (When the shot went through the net), it felt good, it felt really good.


“It just feels so good for us because we’ve been waiting on this moment and we’ve been trying really hard. ... It was our heart; we just wanted that (win) and we’ve been waiting for a win and obviously (Tuesday) we showed it and it came to us, we worked as a team and we did everything we needed to accomplish that.”

Following Schmidt’s go-ahead 3, the Airedalettes threw the ball away on the ensuing possession.

Carson was fouled with 4.6 seconds left and made the first of two free throws before missing the second. But Rainwater came up with the rebound, and Carson got the ball again before being fouled with .5 seconds remaining.

Again, Carson went 1-of-2 from the line, and a last-ditch deep inbounds pass from Alma glanced off the ceiling and right into the hands of Graham as time expired.

“I told them defensively we had to have five people going to the glass,” Brown said. “Forget about snowbirds, forget about fast breaks, I need five people going to the glass.”

Carson finished with 21 points and made three 3's. She also came up with four steals. Schmidt added 17 points, and made 5-of-7 shots from 3-point range.

Graham also hit double figures for Southside with 13 points and she added seven boards.


Bailey led all scorers with 23 points and she made three 3's. Zoie McGhee added 17 points, while Brooke Yates had 12.

Southside 58, Alma 44

BOYS — Ike Moore hit six 3-pointers, three of those coming in the third quarter to help the Mavericks pull away for a home win against the Airedales.


Moore finished the game with 22 points.

His first 3 of the second half gave Southside (7-4) a 29-21 lead. Moore then hit two more 3's to push the Mavericks’ lead to 11 points, 37-26, just past the midway point of the third quarter.

Southside continued to lead by a solid margin the rest of the way. The Mavericks’ biggest lead was 15 points, when Moore hit two foul shots with 1:06 left to put them ahead 56-41. For Alma (2-5), Kade Wood had 14 points and Christian Stahler added 11.

Southside’s Hannah Schmidt drives the lane through the Alma defense Tuesday during first half play at Southside.


High School Basketball

Girls

Southside 65, Alma 62

Alma 9 18 20 15 — 62

Southside 16 8 14 27 — 65

Alma: Bailey 23, McGhee 17, Yates 12, Cooper 5, Mata 3, Gray 2.

Southside: Carson 21, Schmidt 17, Graham 13, Rice 5, Kleck 3, Smith 3, Rainwater 3.

Boys

Southside 58, Alma 44

Alma 9 7 21 7 — 44

Southside 14 9 23 12 — 58

Alma: Wood 14, C. Stahler 11, Johnson 7, Jensen 6, Shelton 3, Mann 3.

Southside: Moore 22, Hamilton 8, Solomon 7, Gatewood 7, Sykes 5, Coleman 4, Brewer 3, Marshall 2.



