ZEBULON - The East Wake Academy girls basketball team faced Roxboro Community School in a nonconference match Wednesday and emerged victorious, 53-40.

East Wake jumped out to an 8-2 lead in poor shooting first quarter. Roxboro Community fought back and closed the game in the second quarter, but the Eagles rallied on the hot shooting of senior point guard Maylynn Hall to push the lead back up, ending the first half on top 27-11.

Costly turnovers in the second half helped Roxboro to close the gap to 10 points, but the eagles withstood each Roxboro rally and countered with defensive stops. The 12-point second half by senior guard Kirsty Siller pushed the Eagles' lead out of reach for good.

East Wake Academy finished with four players scoring in the double digits.

Siller led the way with 16 points and five steals. Hall followed with 13 points, 12 steals, and seven assists.

Senior forward Gracie Barham and junior center Ashleigh Pickett finished with 10 points each and combined for 29 rebounds.

With the win, the Eagle girls advanced to a 5-1 record on the season.

Coach Maurice Lock said the team is improving daily, but still has some fine tuning to do.

"We wanted to work to improve on our rebounding, which we did with 39 on the night," Lock said. "We played a bit sloppy early on in both halves which allowed Roxboro to close the gap, but the ladies showed great resolve in rising to the challenge and finishing strong. There are some little things that we still need to work on in practice, but all in all the girls are doing well."