By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
GUYTON – Finding offensive production has been paramount for South Effingham’s girls this basketball season.
In all nine of their losses, they’ve failed to score more than 38 points as a team.
But they erupted for 66 points and had four starters in double-figure scoring while overwhelming Southeast Bulloch 66-31 Saturday night to end a three-game losing streak.
The Mustangs (6-9) pulled away with a 20-2 run during the first and second quarters. They also had an 18-3 spurt in the third quarter.
South led by 12 at the end of the first quarter, 21 by halftime and 39 after three quarters.
Sophomore point guard Kailyn Chapman led the Mustangs with 16 points. Alayiah Lewis added 13, Hayden Johanson 12 and Danni Lynn 10.
And they took turns carrying the scoring load. Chapman had nine of her points in the fourth quarter. Lewis and Johanson had seven points apiece in the third quarter.
The blowout might have been expected after the Mustangs routed the Yellow Jackets 79-14 in their first meeting on Dec. 14.
But SEHS still had scoring issues after struggling during 34-29 and 36-33 losses to Cedar Shoals and McDonough respectively in the BallHer Showcase at Jenkins High on Dec. 27-28.
This time, SEHS worked the ball around the perimeter for good shots in halfcourt sets and crashed the boards for offensive rebounds against winless SEB.
Six different Mustangs contributed baskets in the first quarter.
Lynn, a battler under the boards, had her career high scoring night, according to posts from MaxPreps.
Another good sign for the Mustangs was improved free-throw shooting. After making just 1-of-6 attempts in the first quarter, they sank 7-of-10 shots in the second half.
South now takes positive momentum into subregion play, which began Jan. 7 at Statesboro. The Mustangs return home for a meeting with Glynn Academy on Saturday.