PEMBROKE — Early returns weren’t all that great for the Purnell Swett girls basketball team through the first quarter of Friday’s United-8 Conference opener against Gray’s Creek.

But the Rams shifted the script in the second quarter, using a big run to take the lead for good in a 59-45 win over the Bears.

“We were down … and our coaches told us that we just needed to get it together and push for this win,” Rams guard Bri Brewington said. “So we all put in our work and we just tried our best to get up there.”

Gray’s Creek (1-4, 0-1 United-8) took an 11-2 lead and held an 11-3 edge at the end of the first quarter. But that point, on a free throw by Niyah Locklear, was the start of a 22-5 run for Purnell Swett (2-3, 1-0 United-8) that stretched through the rest of the first half.

Brewington hit two baskets and two more free throws in the first three minutes of the second quarter to tie the game at 11-11, and a Niyah Locklear layup gave the Rams a two-point lead. Brewington hit two more baskets, including a 3-pointer, for an 18-12 lead, and after Naria Wright triple for the Bears, a Josie McLean layup and four free throws by the Rams stretched the lead to 24-16 at halftime.

“We decided to come out and just press, and the girls defensively came out and did what they were supposed to do, so I’m proud of them,” said Whitney Steen, the Rams’ acting head coach in Robert McLean’s absence. “They didn’t get that attitude when they were down and out, about being down by so many points, so I’m proud of them for fighting back.”

Jayda Dial and Niyah Locklear were largely quiet in the first half, but came alive in the second half to help the Rams preserve the lead. Dial hit two baskets early in the third quarter to extend the Rams’ lead to 28-18.

“We just paid attention to what our coach was saying, how we’ve got to get open on offense, so we executed that,” Dial said.

Gray’s Creek used an 11-2 run to close to within a point, at 30-29, with 3:39 left in the third. A True Ellerbee putback got the Rams back in the basket, and a bucket and a free throw from Alexis Locklear helped stretch the Purnell Swett lead to 35-30 at the end of the third.

Niyah Locklear hit a turn-around jumper for the Rams’ first fourth-quarter points, then hit a putback-and-1 for a 40-34 lead with 4:43 to go. Her layup a few moments later, followed by a Dial basket on the next Rams possession, made the lead 48-39 with 2:31 left.

As Gray’s Creek fouled to extend the game in the final minut, the Rams made each of their final nine attempts from the charity stripe, including six straight by Dial.

“It was a big part of the game, just to let us knock them on out; just make the free throws and get them on out of there,” Dial said. “It’s free, so we had to make them.”

Dial finished with a game-high 16 points, with 14 coming in the second half and 10 in the fourth quarter; she also had seven rebounds and two blocks. Brewington scored 13 points, Alexis Locklear had 11 points with six rebounds and Niyah Locklear had 10 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.

“We’ve just got to put the ball in the hands of the person we know can offensively do it, and Jayda and Niyah are those two people that we go to,” Steen said. “We had to get Jayda out of her head a little bit, but once she had her little breather and she came back and got her shot and then her layup — that momentum, we needed it, and she did a good job tonight.”

Kaitlyn Hopkins scored 13 points to lead Gray’s Creek, Madison Jones provided 10 points and Danejah Purdie had six points with 12 rebounds.

Purnell Swett hopes the conference-opening win provides a boost — not just for the rest of the conference schedule when it resumes in January, but also for next week’s Robeson County Shootout. The Rams host Fairmont in the first round at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

“We had a tough loss to A.L. Brown, in a nonconference game, so our coaches just told us that we have to get it together and work hard to play in the conference, and the Shootout next week, so we just pushed harder this past week as a team and our momentum hit at this game,” Brewington said.

The Purnell Swett-Gray’s Creek varsity boys game was postponed to Jan. 8 due to widespread illness among the Rams team.

Pirates boys win league opener

The Lumberton boys basketball team earned a 67-57 win over Cape Fear in its first United-8 Conference game of the season Friday in Fayetteville.

Dimetrious Jones scored 23 points to lead the Pirates (2-3, 1-0 United-8). Jaiden Shephard scored 11 points, Brady Chavis had 10 points and Amare Jones added seven.

Cape Fear is 1-5 overall and 0-1 in the United-8.

Lumberton opens the Robeson County Shootout at home against Pinecrest at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Lady Pirates fall to Colts

The Lumberton girls basketball team dropped Friday’s league opener at Cape Fear, 79-33.

Gabby Locklear scored 10 points and Charley Whitley and Andrea Brown each scored eight points for the Pirates (0-5, 0-1 United-8).

Jayda Angel scored 36 points for Cape Fear (5-0, 1-0 United-8) and Aniyah Jones netted 14.

The Pirates face Lake View at home in a Robeson County Shootout first-round matchup at 6 p.m. Wednesday.