The Pike Lady Patriots began area play with a 45-39 win over Northside on Thursday.

The win for the Patriots brings their record on the season to 7-6.

“The girls were excited,” said Lady Patriots head coach Robert Hawkins. “It was a physical game, but I think we played with class and with physicality.”

The Patriots had two players score in double figures: Lauren Johnson who finished with 20 points and eight rebounds; and Mya Terry, who finished with 14 point. Danielle Brown finished with seven.

“We really shot the ball well,” Hawkins said. “Lauren shot the lights out. She didn’t miss many shots. Mya had a lot of points and rebounds. She played aggressive, like I have been wanting her to all year.”

The game started tight with both teams combining to score just 18 points in the opening quarter with the Trojans holding a 10-8 lead. Both teams began to find the bottom of the net a bit more in the second quarter and Northside took an 18-17 lead into halftime.

After the Patriots took a 32-22 lead into the final quarter, Northside made their move and cut it to six for a while.

“Overall we just have to scrap for every win and we did,” Hawkins said. “It was nice to hold on to a win. They cut it a little close. We missed a lot of free throws, but we held on to win.”

The win for the Patriots gives them a 1-0 record in region play and Hawkins believes it was a big win coming off a long layoff.

“It was big,” Hawkins said. “It’s so hard to practice during the break when you families going this way and that way. We didn’t practice over the break. I was worried about the shape we were going to be in. I felt like we were mature enough to pick up right where we left off and we did.”

The boy’s basketball team was involved in a shootout on Thursday night, but fell to Northside 80-77.

The loss drops their record on the season to 4-9.

“We had tremendous effort tonight,” said head coach Allen Ponder. “On the defense end we did a good job boxing out and helping each other out. We hit some big shots and had some guys step up. We played better team basketball. If we can build off the effort tonight, we have a chance to win some games.”

Reed Jinright led the Patriots with 17 points, while Patrick O’Brian had 16 and Cole McWhorters finished with 13.

Both teams will be back in action again on Tuesday when they once again travel to Dothan to take on Emmanuel starting with the girls at approximately 6 p.m.