The Southside Panthers led comfortably throughout nearly the entire game, but the Dallas County Hornets made a late push for the lead.

Southside (14-10) held off Dallas County (10-13) 63-58 Wednesday on the road to finish its season on a high note. Lee Underwood led all scorers with 17 points for Southside, including four 3-pointers.

“I’m OK with the win. I’m not OK with how we finished,” said Southside head coach Cedric Brown.

DeQuan Johnson made three straight layups late in the second quarter and Keshawn Arrington splashed a 3-pointer to put Southside ahead 29-19.

Arrington hit a layup to give Southside a 46-36 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Southside hit the necessary shots from the line to hold off a late Hornets’ surge.

Dallas County’s boys’ and girls’ teams will host Ellwood Christian Friday in both teams’ season finales.

The Southside boys face Thomasville in the first round of the class 4A, area 3 tournament at Monroe County Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Dallas County 38, Southside 21 (girls)

The Southside Panthers got out to a slow start offensively with four points in the first half, and it was too much to overcome in the second half.

The Dallas County Hornets (5-18) held off a second-half comeback attempt from Southside to win 38-21 at home Wednesday night. Jamerah Smith led all scorers for the Hornets with 10 points.

Dallas County held Southside scoreless in the second quarter to take a 14-4 halftime lead.

The Panthers cut the lead to 22-17, but Dallas County ran away with the game in the fourth quarter.

“We did not lose our composure. We stayed focused,” Thompson said.

Southside head coach Kayla Mason said her players tried to pick up the tempo late in the game and it cost them.

“When you play at your opponent’s tempo, you usually wear yourself out, you become sloppy and you start making poor choices,” Mason said.

The Southside girls will play in the first round of their area tournament against Thomasville at Clarke County High School at 6:30 p.m.