The Selma Saints girl’s varsity team held on to defeat the Keith Bears 42-40 Friday night behind 12 points from Ayana Moore.

The game was back and forth the entire way and was tied 28-28 after three quarters, but the Saints started the quarter on a 9-4 run that ended up being the difference in the game.

“We just came out on the right end of the stick this time,” Selma head coach Anthony Harris said. “Overall, we turned the ball over 16 times tonight. We have to get stronger on rebounding and our guards have got to be able to control the game.”

Keith had chances down the stretch and nearly sent the game to overtime. The Bears trailed 42-36 with 58.7 seconds left but closed to within two after Harriet Winchester made two free throws and hit a jumpshot.

The Saints were able to hang on because Keith was unable to foul in time to get the ball back.

“We lost that game ourselves, because we were 4 for 16 from the free throw line and we lost by two,” Keith head coach Cecil Williams said. “A lot of bad passes and we didn’t box out well, so I saw a lot of potential but basically we shot ourselves in the foot with the simple mistakes today.”

Zykia Pettway scored a game-high 19 points for the Bears.