FROSTBURG — Southern pulled out a zone defense in the second half, and Mountain Ridge scored just 12 points the rest of the way.
The Rams’ 1-3-1 in the third quarter and 2-3 in the fourth forced a bevy of Mountain Ridge turnovers — 33 for the game — allowing Southern to pull away for good after a competitive first half.
Emelee Parks, Jayden Weaver and Kelsey Ward combined for 41 points to take care of the offense, and top-ranked Southern defeated Mountain Ridge, 52-31, Thursday at the Coal Mine.
“It was a good win overall,” Southern head coach Landon Todd said. “It was good to get some of the players down on our bench good minutes.
“Defensively, I thought we played a great game and then even more so, I thought we rebounded the heck out of the ball on both ends of the court.”
Southern (7-3) improved to 3-0 in the Western Maryland Athletic Conference. The Rams, winners of five of their last six games, have won 16 in a row over area opponents, a streak that dates back nearly two years.
Mountain Ridge fell to 5-4 (2-2 WestMAC) after their three-game winning streak was snapped.
Parks led all scorers with 18 points, scoring 11 in the first half. Weaver added 12, and Ward garnered all 11 of her points before halftime.
Taylor Lamberson and Kealana Pua’auli paced Mountain Ridge with eight points each.
The Miners were within 14-10 after the first quarter and leveled the score at 16 after a lay-in by Pua’auli with 5:40 left in the first half.
Southern scored the game’s next nine points to take a 27-19 edge into the intermission, and its 1-3-1 zone held Mountain Ridge to just four points in the third period, allowing the Rams to build a 37-23 edge.
“We’ve got to control the ball a little bit better,” Mountain Ridge head coach Donny Carter said. “That’s what we’ve been preaching all year long, protect the ball. When we protect the ball, we win. When we don’t, this happens.”
Southern was able to empty its bench in the fourth, and six players scored in the decider.
The Rams were without their leading scorer Joycelyn Ward, who missed the game with a bone bruise.
Mountain Ridge gave Southern difficulty in the first half with a zone of its own. The 3-2 defense, the same it had success with in a 53-42 playoff loss in Oakland last year, pushed the Rams outside.
After some early difficulty, Parks attacked the heart of the defense for nine first-quarter points, and Kelsey Ward attacked the glass for nine points in the second period.
“We fully expected them to throw some junk defenses at us, try to slow us down, get us out of rhythm, and it worked,” Todd said. “The fact that we probably shot somewhere between 25 and 30% from the field is a testament to them just getting us out of sync.
“We prepared for it. We knew it was going to happen, but it didn’t translate to beating it in the game.”
Southern hosts Chartiers Valley, Pennsylvania, on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Mountain Ridge will look to get its offense back on track when it welcomes No. 2 Keyser (6-1) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
“We can be competitive with Keyser,” Carter said. “It just depends on if we protect the ball or not.”