The Coastal Empire Lady Monarchs closed out a three game home-stand with a 103-53 victory over the Gastonia Greyhounds in a Women’s American Basketball Association league game played at the Shuman Recreation center on September 7.
The win improves the Lady Monarchs to 4-1 as they won their fourth contest in a row.
The Lady Monarchs trailed Gastonia 17-14 with 3:14 left in the opening quarter but ended the period with a 9-3 spurt to take a 23-20 lead.
Gastonia went cold in the second quarter as they were outscored 28-8. The Lady Monarchs started the quarter with 24 straight points to increase their lead to 47-20 with 4:30 remaining before halftime.
A layup by the Greyhounds Alexis Allen at the 4:14 mark ended the visitors scoring drought.
The Lady Monarchs entered halftime with a 51-28 edge.
“We’re always read to play,” said head coach Jessie Fleming. He added that at any time his team is liable to catch fire and hit their shots. “Once we stay within our system, it’s on.”
Gastonia started the third quarter with a free throw from Morgan Strohman to get within 22 but the visitors from North Carolina could not get closer than 24 the rest of the way. The Lady Monarchs led 64-40 with 4:15 showing and ended the quarter by limiting Gastonia to just one field goal as they went ahead 71-43.
“We came out sluggish in the third quarter,” states Fleming. “That happens when you get unfocused.”
Seven different players dented the scoring column in the fourth quarter for the Lady Monarchs as Makhala Jackson and Taquandra Mike scored seven points apiece while Latia Fleming chipped in six points.
The Lady Monarchs led 84-47 with 6:16 left and increased their advantage to 92-49 with 2:41 left before closing the game with a 11-3 run in their 50-point victory.
All five Coastal Empire starters scored in double figures.
Fleming had a double-double effort for the winners with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Jackson led all scorers with 22 points while getting five steals. Mike and Naqaiyyah Teague scored 20 points apiece while Jakayvea contributed 13 points.Teague also had seven rebounds.
The head coach was not surprised of Jackson’s play. “She was a WABA all star last year. She does what we ask her to do.”
Rebecca Musgrove led Gastonia (1-3) with 17 points while Strohman had 16 points.
The Lady Monarch will close out the regular season with three road games, starting with the Macon Blue Diamond on September 21.. “Our next game is at Macon. They upset us in the first game of the season 68-66 which is our only loss so we are looking for revenge,” said the coach. The team finishes the regular season against the Montgomery Lady Magic (Sept. 28) and the Tri City Lady Blackhawks (Sept. 29) in Columbus, Georgia.