What started out as a laugher ended up going to overtime as Rickman duked it out with the Saints at DeKalb Middle this past week with the home squad taking a hard-fought victory keeping their perfect start intact, 45-39.

The Saints started out hot, taking a 10-0 lead in the first behind four from Robert Wheeler who had 13 on the night. Connor Close also bucketed a three, contributing to his five points on the night.

Able to emerge with a 10-4 lead at the end of one, the Saints had the tables turned as Rickman went on a big scoring run in the second stanza while the DeKalb shooting dried up. The story behind the Rickman run was Isaac Story who scored eight of his team’s 12 second quarter hoops on the way to scoring the lion’s share of his team’s points on the night, leading all scorers with 23.

DMS rebounded from their malaise in the third with Robert Wheeler getting six more points while Elishah Ramos contributed four of his team-leading 15 points in the third frame. However, the Saints still found themselves at the short end of a 30-25 score going into the final quarter. While Wheeler and Ramos both had four in the final frame, it was the Saint defense that pushed the game to overtime as they held Rickman to only one basket, that being a three-pointer by Story.

The defense continued into overtime with DMS outscoring the visitors 12-6 behind six by Stetson Agee and four from Ean Jones.

The Saints would continue the perfect start to their season the road, holding off Southside for a 25-23 win. Ramos led his team to the 4-0 start with 11 at Southside.

The start to the season was not so advantageous for the Lady Saints as they found themselves yo-yoing with Rickman, falling behind and then catching up, a late run falling just short as they fell 39-33.

Rickman found itself with the lead going into half, 19-15 despite a 12-point performance by Ella VanVranken who led all scorers with a game-high 21 on the evening. Morgan Walker also contributed to the first half scoring, getting five of her 10 before half.

The Lady Saints came out strong in the second half, eliminating the Rickman lead as they put up six quick points. However, that would prove to be all they scored in the third as the visitors took advantage of second chance baskets by dominating the offensive boards to salt away the win and survive a late fourth quarter run by the Lady Saints.

The Lady Saints would atone for their loss two days later when they traveled to Southside and took a 37-16 victory, setting their record at 2-2 thus far. VanVranken kept up her scoring spree, leading her team with 15 while Cadee Griffith bounced back with seven. Avery Agee and Xharia Lyons both had four.