The Selma Lady Saints relied on pressure defense and transition baskets to defeat the Wilcox-Central Lady Jaguars 57-15 at home on Friday in a non-region game.

Anthony Harris, head girls basketball coach of Selma (14-9, 3-1), said the Lady Saints started slow, but eventually worked to get the easy baskets.

“We started off slow, and I guess we played Tuesday night and practice, and sometimes you’ll play like a team. People have been trying to convince me of that, but I want mine to come out shooting and running at all times. They jumped out in man and we got stuck a little bit, but if we ran our system we would have been alright. But at this point, having played 20 games, you’re supposed to know what to do with that ball,” Harris said. “We started pressing and got them loose a little bit, and things started happening for us. We got some easy layups. The only problem now is that we’re missing too many free throws.

“I think we went 5 for 23, and that’s been a problem for us all year. We looked pretty good, got a chance to play everybody, but we’ve got to start correcting ourselves.”

Robert Rucker, head girls basketball coach of Wilcox (7-7), said it was a tough loss for his team, which had players leave the game due to injuries.

“It was physical. My girls were not ready for the physical play, then I put up with a lot of injuries as the game went on,” Rucker said. “They outrebounded us and they got down the floor and made the easy baskets.”

The Lady Saints held a 10-4 lead at the end of the first quarter, but really started to pull away in the second, as they opened the quarter on a 6-0 run that included baskets by Takeesha Wilson and Brenna Porter to put the Selma’s lead at 16-4 with 6:02 left in the half.

Quanisha Bridges scored in the paint for Wilcox to stop the run, but Selma’s Ayana Moore responded with a jumper that made it 18-6 with 4:21 left.

Rachel Madison hit a free throw for the Lady Jaguars to make it 18-7, but Moore scored on a fast-break layup that sparked another 6-0 run in which she scored four points for the Lady Saints to make it a 24-7 game with 1:56 left in the second.

Selma took a 30-8 lead into halftime and dominated the third quarter to go into the fourth leading 49-13.

Moore had 14 points, 3 assists and 3 steals for the Lady Saints, while Kendra McCovery had 14 points and 4 steals for Selma.

Wilson added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Selma, while Porter had 6 points and 9 rebounds for the Lady Saints.

Selma will take the floor again Saturday at home against the rival Southside Lady Panthers with games starting at 4 p.m.