Chavis, Lady Rams pull away to beat Whiteville

PEMBROKE — The game may have been after regular business hours, but the bank was open, at least for Purnell Swett’s Chloe Chavis.

The Rams guard used the backboard on four key second-half baskets, helping her team to pull away in a 56-39 nonconference win Tuesday against Whiteville.

“None, I wasn’t looking to use it none, I ain’t going to lie,” Chavis said with a laugh, saying her bank-shot efficiency was largely just good luck. “It went in, that’s all that matters.”

Chavis scored 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half, with 10 of those coming on shots that kissed the glass on their way to finding the center of the cylinder.

“That’s the best friend,” Purnell Swett coach Mike Smith said. “At practice, I tell them, as the course of the game goes on, you get fatigued, that’s where you’ve got to be able to think the game — hey, maybe I need help. That backboard is there, and we work on those every day at practice. She had that touch going tonight.”

Purnell Swett (1-2) led 26-15 at halftime and expanded that lead to 30-15 after baskets from Kesler Collins and Jayda Dial early in the third quarter; Whiteville (0-3) used a 7-0 run to pull within eight at 30-22.

After the teams swapped baskets to make it 32-24, Chavis’ stretch of bank shots began with a pair of 3-pointers; when she made a midrange jumper by also using the glass, the Rams led 40-26 with 1:10 left in the third. Purnell Swett took a 42-29 lead to the fourth.

Whiteville closed to a 10-point gap at 43-33 before an inside jumper by Chavis, her fourth backboard special. The Wolfpack again pulled within 10 at 47-37 before Chavis hit a layup with 3:22 left, which sparked a 7-0 run that sealed the win for the Rams. Zaylee Hunt and Jayda Dial had baskets later in the run, giving Purnell Swett a 54-37 lead with 1:35 to go.

“I just be hungry 24/7, I ain’t going to give up no matter what,” Chavis said. “(The late run) felt like a big accomplishment to us. We just stuck together.”

“(We’re) trying to install efficiency,” Smith said. “You’ve got good, you’ve got consistent then you’ve got efficiency. Sometimes when you get fatigued, it’s time to be efficient and be smart.”

The result was the first win of the season for Purnell Swett and Smith’s first win as a head coach.

“The work don’t stop; when you go through adversity, you want to give up, you feel like not coming to work sometimes, but I tell my girls all the time, when you’re learning something, when you want something, when you want to win especially, that’s what it takes,” Smith said. “You’ve got to do it when you don’t feel like it. Discipline, listening, that’s one thing I’m big on as far as focus.

Dial led Purnell Swett with 16 points, with exactly four points in each quarter. Kamryn Locklear scored nine points and Terra Bullard had five for the Rams.

Elayzia Dawson scored 17 points for the Wolfpack and Ceonna Dennis had 14 points.

Purnell Swett used an 8-0 first-quarter run to take a 12-4 lead late in the period and led 14-9 when the quarter expired.

Baskets from Locklear and Dial were part of a 5-0 spurt by the Rams to go up 19-9. Purnell Swett later outscored Whiteville 7-3 over the last two minutes of the half to turn a 19-12 advantage into a 26-15 halftime edge.

Purnell Swett returns to action next Tuesday at Lee County, but before they do so Smith and his team will pause over Thanksgiving with gratitude for the opportunity to play the game.

“We should always be thankful for what we do have,” Smith said. “I told them before the game, if you’re thankful, show it. They showed it tonight, so we’re going home with a win and hopefully after the break the ball keeps rolling.”