A friendly intra-team competition between Candice Seagraves and Jenny Joy paid dividends in Pinecrest's 64-30 basketball victory at Red Springs Tuesday evening.

Seagraves, a senior forward, finished with a game-high 23 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Joy, a junior point guard, contributed 15 points to go with seven assists and four rebounds.

"They had a competition to see who could outscore each other," Patriot coach Alvita Thomas said of her two most experienced players. "We told Jenny her assists were going to count toward her points. They were having fun with it."

Junior Ashleigh McKenzie added 13 points, and freshmen Felicia Painter and Janea Williams grabbed 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively. The Patriots improved to 4-3 with the strong overall team effort.

Last week's grind of three games in four days that included a flat performance in Friday's 45-34 loss to Western Harnett was behind the Patriots. Red Springs was a team they defeated 58-26 in the first game of the long week.

"We had a great practice on Monday," Joy said. "On the way up here, coach had us sit in silence and get focused for the game. They (Red Springs) are a scrappy team and we knew what we had to do. We were on our game today."

Thomas called a timeout with her team trailing 8-4 in the early going. Seagraves fed McKenzie for the basket that tied the game at 8-8. Moments later, the 6-foot-2 Williams went high to grab a Red Devil miss and in the same motion released an outlet pass to McKenzie racing up the left side of the court.

McKenzie's bounce pass to Joy completed the lightning-quick fast break. The Pats finished the period on a 14-2 run to take a 20-10 lead. By halftime, the visitors led 35-23 and Seagraves and Joy each had 12 points and two assists.

Joy handed out four more assists in the first five minutes of the third quarter with Seagraves the beneficiary of three of them. A McKenzie steal for two points made it 51-28 as the period ended.

The Patriot defense was in a clampdown mode, holding the Red Devils to just three field goals and seven points in the second half.

Joy was animated and her teammates joyful after the game, in contrast to the demeanor following a tense victory over Southern Lee last Thursday and the loss to Western Harnett on Friday.

"That's what we want," Joy said. "It's not to just go out and play. We want to have fun too and while we're enjoying it, play hard and play as a team. It was tremendous tonight."

The Pinecrest jayvee and varsity girls travel to Cardinal Gibbons tonight while the Patriot boys entertain the Crusader jayvee and varsity squads at James Moore Gym. The evening begins with the jayvee contest at 6 p.m.

Pinecrest 20 15 16 13 -- 64

Red Springs 10 13 5 2 -- 30

Pinecrest Joy 6 1-1 15, Painter 1 2-2 4, McKenzie 6 0-0 13, Herm 1 0-0 2, Seagraves 11 1-1 23, Williams 2 1-2 5, Horne 0 0-2 0, Thomas 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Crawford 1 0-0 2, Lynch 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 5-8 64. Red Springs Leach 3 0-0 6, Murray 5 2-2 12, Booker 1 0-0 3, Murphy 0 2-2 2, Patterson 2 1-1 5, Farrington 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 5-5 30. Three-point goals: (P) 3 (Joy 2, McKenzie); (R ) 1 (Booker).