First Posted: 1/23/2015

ROWLAND — Red Springs coach Steve Sinclair challenged freshman Taya Jones to step-up before Friday night’s game against South Robeson, and she delivered.

Jones put on a show against the lady Mustangs (8-7, 5-3), scoring 30 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, leading Red Springs (9-8, 5-3) to a 55-49 road win.

“Taya was phenomenal tonight,” Sinclair said. “She accepted the challenge and rose to the occasion.”

Jones made a layup at the buzzer in the first half to give the Red Devils a 20-18 advantage going into the break. That seemed to ignite her, as she reeled off 20 points in the second half.

Red Springs took its biggest lead of the game after a 7-0 to start the fourth quarter, giving the visitors a 42-33 lead. The Red Devils used a press to coral the Mustangs, totaling 19 steals for the game.

“It’s the first game all year where we played like a team,” Sinclair said. “We were moving on defense and we had two great days of practice. It showed tonight.”

The Mustangs closed the gap to four with just under two minutes to play in game, but didn’t get closer as Red Springs knocked down free throws late to seal the victory.

“We didn’t play with a lot of intensity tonight,” said South Robeson coach Lula Ratley. “We scored, but we didn’t quite show enough effort to get the job done.”

The Mustangs used a 6-0 run in the first half to take a 16-12 lead, capped off by a steal and layup by A’terria Quick. Quick finished with 17 points and forward Carrington Mitchell finished with 16, but defensively South Robeson had no answer for Jones.

Sha’nia Leach finished with six points, five rebounds and four steals for Red Springs and Ladesha Mack grabbed seven rebounds.

“It was a big win for our young team,” Sinclair said. “We need to keep playing together and building momentum.”

Mustangs hold on to beat Red Springs

Despite a 15-point fourth quarter rally from the Red Devils on Friday night, South Robeson held on to win 62-57.

The Mustangs (7-8, 4-4) evened their Three Rivers Conference record giving Red Springs (9-9, 5-3) its second straight loss.

Adam Miller recorded a double-double for the Mustangs, tallying 11 points and 10 rebounds, making a layup with under a minute to play to give South Robeson some breathing room.

The Red Devils jumped out to an early 18-11 lead, but South Robeson used a 26-9 run in the second quarter to take a 10-point lead into halftime. The Mustangs wouldn’t trail again.

Tavion Atkinson finished with 23 points for Red Springs to lead all scorers. Derrick Worley was the top scorer for the Mustangs with 19 points.