By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

Daysha Blount’s 11 points led Reserve Christian as it built a double-digit halftime lead and held on for a 39-33 win over Crescent City on Monday.

Reserve led 11-4 after a quarter, then 21-10 at halftime to take control of the game. Crescent City (1-8) cut the lead to six entering the fourth quarter, but Reserve (3-9) allowed its advantage to dwindle no further.

“We came out and played fundamentally sound basketball. That helped us build the lead early,” said Reserve Coach Richard Englander. “Another big key was minimizing our turnovers.”

Raven Campbell scored nine points. Jamie Bolden added seven.

Englander said that in the fourth quarter, it was his team’s defensive pressure that stymied Crescent City’s comeback hopes for good.

“It forced them into some turnovers of their own. It allowed us to push that lead up,” he said.

Last Tuesday, the Eagles couldn’t hold off a hot shooting St. Martin’s team, however, as it fell 56-40.

Blount scored 17 points. Jermani Thompson scored eight.

St. Martin’s (9-4) led 34-24 at halftime, but Reserve’s offense went cold in the second half, as it only mustered 15 points.

“Shots just weren’t falling for us. And in the fourth, we started to turn it over a lot,” Englander said.

As a whole, though, Englander sees a much better effort from his team than he did a week ago, when it hosted Riverside and turned out what he felt was a lackluster effort in the second half.

“They’re going full speed from the tip to the final buzzer,” he said. “They’ve really stepped up their games.”