CREEKSVILLE – Trailing late in the fourth quarter, Northampton-East didn’t panic.

Instead, the Lady Rams hit key shots down the stretch and knocked off rival Northampton-West 43-38 for their fifth Tar-Roanoke Conference victory.

“We played hard, especially on defense,” Lady Rams’ skipper Rick Heckler said. “We kept our composure in the fourth quarter. It was a big rivalry game and a good win for us in the conference.”

Shantilla Evans – who led all scorers with 20 points – hit a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter to push Northampton-West ahead 34-33.

With just over four minutes to play, Ashley Boyce and Patrice Williams hit back-to-back buckets for the Lady Rams to snatch the lead back. Jamecka Deloatch then added a free throw that made it 38-34 in favor of the home team.

Evans buried two free throws at the 2:45 mark of the game to close the gap to a pair (38-36), but Williams converted a three-point play just over a minute later as East pulled ahead 41-36.

The two teams exchanged late baskets as East held on for the five-point win.

Williams paced the Northampton-East attack with 14 points while Kierra Wiggins added eight, Ashley Boyce had seven, Shakira Shoulders had six and Nikki Peebles added five. Rounding out the scoring were Brittany Boone (2) and Deloatch (1).

In addition to the 20 points from Evans, West got eight from Tashandalyn Lashley and six from Brittany Fobbs.

West started out the first quarter with a strong run and led 6-4, but Northampton-East rallied. Boyce hit a free throw that was followed by successive hoops from Shoulders as the Rams went ahead 9-6 after one quarter.

The Lady Hurricanes closed the gap in the second quarter, eventually tying the game at 13-all when Evans delivered a three-point play.

East, however, began to pull away again. Williams hit a free throw and was followed by buckets from Wiggins and Boyce that gave the Lady Rams an 18-13 advantage.

The Lady Hurricanes however scored six of the final nine points, the last of which came from Evans to close the gap to 21-19 at the halftime break.

The teams went back-and-forth in the third period, but it ended with the Lady Rams still ahead by two points.

The win boosted Northampton-East to 7-9 overall and 5-2 in the league. They will host Gates County Friday night in another TRC battle.