COVINGTON, Ga. — While the Newton Lady Rams may have defeated region foe Parkview 71-50 on Tuesday night at home, the game was much closer than the final score indicated.
At halftime, the Lady Rams trailed 26-25 and found themselves in a back-and-forth contest through 16 minutes.
When the second half began, it looked like that was how the rest of the game would play out with it coming down to the wire. However, head coach Tiffani Johnson called a full timeout in the opening minutes of the third quarter for her team to adjust.
And adjust they did.
Out of that timeout, Newton implemented a full court press causing numerous turnovers by Parkview. The Lady Rams cashed in on the majority of their opportunities, too.
After being tied 34-all with 4:32 remaining in the third period, Newton closed the quarter on a 13-3 run giving them a 47-37 lead going into the fourth.
On that scoring run, Breyonna Rhodes scored six of her final nine points on back-to-back 3-pointers. Kyla Price contributed a couple of tough buckets at the rim to help widen the lead as well.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Rams just continued to pull away from Parkview outscoring the Lady Panthers 24-13 to close the deal.
A bulk of Newton’s fourth quarter scoring came courtesy of Lereleia Terrell where she scored eight of her team-high 12 points.
Tuesday’s win was a team effort.
In addition to the aforementioned stats, Tre’Miyah Berry scored 11 points while Ashleigh Norris scored 10 and Tania Bailey tallied eight.
As a result of the win, Newton begins region play 1-0. It puts an end to the Lady Rams’ five-game losing streak as well.
The difference, though, between going 1-0 and 0-1, just might have been the timeout called by Johnson toward the beginning of the second half. From that point on, the Lady Rams seemed to play with a renewed energy and focus than they did in the first half.
Now, Newton will look to build off of Tuesday’s success. It traveled to Bartlett High School to compete in the Stephen Jackson Showcase in Bartlett, Tennessee.
The Lady Rams faced Cardinal Ritter College Prep out of St. Louis, Missouri on Jan. 14 and played against Arlington High School out of Tennessee on Jan. 15.
