The Pike Liberal Arts Patriots defeated the Edgewood Wildcats 49-31 in a consolation game of the Abbeville Christian Academy Christmas Tournament Saturday morning.

Senior Re’gine Parker sunk four first half three-pointers and the Lady Patriots were off and running in the second half.

“I was a little concerned about which team was going to show up,” said Patriots head coach Robert Hawkins. “Especially being that it was an early consolation game on a Saturday. The girls came out and had a good attitude and they worked hard.”

The Patriots led by Parker in the first half, gained easy separation early and went into halftime with a commanding 30-14 lead.

Parker scored 16 of her 18 points in the opening half and along with junior Lauren Johnson, who contributed with 8 points in the half the Patriots coasted into half time and had the opportunity to play their bench for the conclusion of the game.

“We were able to play a lot of people in the second half,” Hawkins said. “We were able build that sixteen point lead going into halftime.

The 18 points by Parker continued a run by the senior that has seen her put up double figures in the last few games and between her and Johnson the two have been real table setters.

“She (Parker) has been huge,” Hawkins said. “I think we will get better once we figure out what she does well. She just really knows the game and see’s the court. She is a general out there, she puts everybody else where they need to be”

Along with Parker’s 18 points in the game, Johnson also contributed by finishing with 20 points to lead the way for the Patriots.

Coming off a loss the night before to the number one ranked team in Georgia in Westwood, coach Hawkins entered the game Saturday of getting things back on track and stuck with the game plan that has been proven to be successful in the first half of the year.

“You try to learn from losses like that,” Hawkins said. “We didn’t change anything. We played the team the same way we would play anybody else.”

The way that the team bounced back against a quality opponent like Edgewood really impressed coach Hawkins.

“They are a pretty good team,” Hawkins said. “They were 5-2 at the time. We beat them handily I thought. I don’t think there was any doubt about the game.”

The win for the Patriots shows coach Hawkins that his team is willing to put in the work needed to take the next step as a basketball team.

“It was huge,” Hawkins said. “You are dealing with somebody’s mental state with having getting drummed the night before. It says a lot about the girl’s character. They were willing to show up and play hard even though they were shellacked the night before. That’s what I wanted to see. I knew that if we didn’t show up on Saturday that we were going to have some problems.

The Patriots hope to carry over the momentum into the new year when they take on Fort Dale on January 5.