In the girls' contest, Newton played perhaps its best overall game from start to finish in earning 79-69 road win to split the season series.

The Lady Rams had four players in double figures. Danyel Fourney had a game-high 25 points while Precious Price dropped 16. Tai Avery scored 12 and Mikola Burks had 11.

"We came out and I think we were ready to play," Newton coach Tiffani Johnson said. "We started how we are supposed to start so we can get the end result we want. I think we played a complete game today."

Meagan Tucker scored a team-high 24 for the Lady Tigers and Ashley Williams had 16.

Newton outscored rival Alcovy in all but the fourth quarter. Each time the Lady Tigers looked poise to make a run, Newton had an answer. That answer was turnovers and scoring off of Alcovy's mistakes.

"We didn't have any of those mental lapses at the end of games that have hurt us at some times," Johnson said. "We didn't allow any opportunity for us to beat ourselves today."

On the flip side, Alcovy struggled to find a rhythm. Whenever they turned it over, Newton made them pay.

"The bottom line is we got outhustled tonight. We were outplayed," Alcovy coach Kidada Holtzclaw said. "We'll go back to the drawing board and talk about how maybe a butt kicking is something you need. Hopefully it will make them understand that maybe we aren't where we want to be an we have a long way to go."

After Alcovy handled the Lady Rams at their place, Newton came in with redemption in mind. From the opening tip, they were the aggressors while Alcovy, albeit almost able to hang in and steal a win off sheer talent, was never really in the game down the stretch.

"Teams like that are going to come in here and get after you. They are gunning for you," Holtzclaw said. "They feel like they're better than you and we have to go out there and prove that you're the better team and we didn't do that tonight."