Coming off a loss Friday night, Southside High School Lady Panthers coach Matthews Williams Jr. knew his team needed to respond in a big way.

After all, the Lady Panthers suffered their first loss of the season to Keith High just 24 hours earlier.

Memories of that defeat, however, quickly vanished as Southside beat the Dallas County High School Lady Hornets, 61-33 in the Southside High gym.

“This was a game,” Williams said, “where we had to compensate for the loss (Friday) night. We played well and we did most everything we wanted to do…most everything.”

The Lady Panthers (2-1), coming off a two-week hiatus, had little trouble with Dallas County, which struggled with its shooting most of the night.

Dallas County scored just four points in the final period after a third quarter in which they nearly got back into the game.

Trailing at the half, 36-15, Dallas County rallied in the third quarter behind a quicker, more up-tempo offense that led to sharper passes and fast-break opportunities.

Guard Crystal Turk started the rally with a jumper from the top of the key followed by a running layup to cut the margin to 40-20.

Turk’s baskets were just the beginning of a 13-0 Dallas County run that also saw Turk add a fast-break layup and a running floater. Velencia King’s three-pointer from the left wing brought the Lady Hornets back to within 40-29 after three periods.

“That was the first quarter where we played the way we’ve wanted to play all season,” Dallas County coach Roxanne Jones said. “We’ve got to play like that for all four quarters – not just one.”

Southside, however, made sure the Lady Hornets’ momentum was doused quicker than a Southern California fire.

Southside opened the fourth quarter with a 15-0 run highlighted by Rush’s punishing offensive rebounds and put-backs, and Kendra Marzette’s soft-touch shooting.

After a missed free-throw by the Lady Panthers, Rush bullied her way inside for the offensive rebound and layup. Her repeat performance of the feat upped Southside’s lead to 53-29. Marzette added a three-pointer from the right corner in the final period to put the game away.

“The two weeks off really hurt us,” WIlliams said. “I’m glad we came out and play as hard as we did.”

The Lady Hornets scored the game’s first points on Sameria McGhee’s running baseline layup. But Dallas County went cold from there, missing its next six shots from the field.

Meanwhile, Southside heated up. The Lady Panthers went on a 10-2 run led by guard Katricia Brown, who drained an open jumper from the top of the key, then sent a pass down low to forward Jessica Rush for an easy layup and a 10-4 Southside lead. Southside led 21-7 after the opening quarter.