Late third-quarter run dooms Chatham

WENTWORTH, N.C. — Senior Eleisa Hairston and freshman Bria Pass combined for 21 points in the third quarter Monday afternoon as Reidsville broke open a close game and went on to a 53-35 victory over Chatham in the first round of the Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics Center Holiday Classic.

“We picked up the effort, played some defense and decided to box out,” said Reidsville coach Casey Elrod of his team’s drastic turnaround in the third quarter. “It was all about effort in the second half.”

Hairston, who missed a portion of the first half after taking a fall to the court, scored 12 of her game-high 26 points in the third quarter and Pass notched nine of her 11 points in the period.

The Cavaliers were within 22-18 when Jessica Goolsby drilled a three-pointer at the five-minute mark of the third period. But Reidsville (4-3) scored 11 consecutive points in a span of less than two minutes to open the margin to 33-18. Chatham closed within 33-22 on two foul shots by Rachel Nicholson and a basket by Erin Ricketts but the Rams again went on a spurt, ending the period on a 9-0 rally that featured two baskets by Pass and a three-pointer by Atavia Blackwell.

“We’ve just been struggling along,” Chatham coach Mike Richardson said. “I thought we played very hard today. We had some starters who tested their injuries to see where they are.”

Iesha Perry led the Cavaliers (1-6) with 10 points and 10 rebounds in her return from an ankle injury. Goolsby finished with nine points.

“Our biggest problem has been the opportunity to play together as a unit,” Richardson said. “We turned the ball over some. We just haven’t had our core group healthy enough to solidify what we are doing on the floor.”

Reidsville began the third quarter with a three-pointer by Katlin Taffer and went on to score 11 of the first 13 points in the period to push the advantage all the way to 53-24 before Chatham closed the gap by scoring the game’s last 11 points.

“We need some good runs to get momentum going and build from there,” said Elrod.

Hairston, who will play at Elon University next year, finished with 26 points, six rebounds, three blocks and three assists. She hit 11 of 17 shots from the floor and made all three of her free throws.

“She’s a strong player,” Richardson said. “Around the basket, she’s got all the moves and when she goes, they are going to go.”

The victory enabled the Rams to end a two-game slide after they had opened the season 3-1.

“The Morehead game (last Wednesday) was probably as bad as I’ve seen us play.” Elrod said. “Then we turned around and played a really good half against Rockingham (last Thursday) but we gave up that positive momentum in the second half. What we’ve got to get is more consistent when we have a good run and do it for a whole game.”

Register & Bee sports writer Damien Sordelett contributed to this report.