In region 5A girls varsity basketball, the Blackville-Hilda High got the best of C.A. Johnson High as they out-muscled the Lady Hornets by a score of 43-35 Friday night in the Hawks Nest.

The contest turned into a battle of wills with alot of bumping, grabbing and bodies hitting the floor.

Bothteams struggled to score out of their half-court set offense shooting under 40 percent for the contest.

However, despite the low percentage in shooting, Blackville-Hilda head coach William Hammonds said he's glad for the victory.

"Sometimes you have to do what it takes to win ball games and that's what we did tonight," Hammonds said. "From an offensive standpoint it wasn't pretty, but it was a victory nonetheless. Our team still has a ways to go and tonight's victory is a step in the right direction."

At the start of the game it was all Lady Hawks with Shawanda Ferguson stepping to the scoring forefront. Ferguson erupted for eight first quarter points on four-of-five shooting to put the team ahead at 12-2.

In the second quarter, the Lady Hawks pushed their lead to 18-9 with 3:18 left in the first half on layups by Candace Thomas, Ferguson and Kendra Nickens.

In the second half, defense took center stage for Blackville-Hilda with the Lady Hawks forcing 18 turnovers to take the sting out of the Lady Hornets offense.

The Lady Hawks defensive surge was the key to a closely played second half with Blackville-Hilda holding a 20-18 edge in scoring.

For the game, Ferguson led all scores with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Thomas had a good all-around game with seven points, nine steals and six assists. Nickens contributed four points and six rebounds while Shamone Harley added four points and five steals.

On Jan. 12 in North Augusta, the Lady Hawks downed the Lady Predators by a score of 32-22.

In a low-scoring affair, the Lady Hawks held the Lady Predators to nine first half points on three-of-18 shooting.

After struggling in the first half themselves to put the ball in the basket, the Lady Hawks found rhythm offensively in the second half led by the shooting of Ferguson.

Ferguson scored 12 of the team 16 third quarter points. Ferguson finished the game with 17 points on eight-of-13 shooting from the field. She also had 11 rebounds and four steals.

For the game, others stepping up in the scoring department included Danielle Brown had four points and nine assists. Nickens scored four points. Herquanda Williams with four points and six rebounds.