"My assistant coach and I were talking this morning about how hard it is to beat a team three times. In the locker room we talked about having a great first four minutes and the team really responded and had a great start."

His team responded in a big way, defeating the host Athens Drive Jaguars 66-24 to pick up the tournament title.

Sanderson jumped out to a 20-4 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.

Athens Drive coach Patrick Daley also conceded that Sanderson's fast start was the difference in the game.

"It was one of those nights. Sanderson played great from start to finish. We tried multiple things to stop their offense. I thought we were totally prepared to play this game so it surprised me that when they threw the first punch, we didn't really have an answer."

Sanderson had five players to finish with double figures, lead by Jessica Fife with 14 points and Mary Boylan with 12. No Athens Drive player finished with more than five points.

Daley hopes that the tournament will give his team some continuity in a season that has been short on it so far.

"We've had a different starting lineup every game so we're still searching for that chemistry. And that's what we're searching for during the holidays - we're trying to find that consistency."

Third-place game

Both Fuquay-Varina and Cardinal Gibbons entered Wednesday night's third-place game eager to put their loss the previous night behind them.

Fuquay-Varina got off to the fast start, but its inability to stop Cardinal Gibbons inside proved to be its undoing as it fell 64-52.

Madison Beuris scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Cardinal Gibbons kept Fuquay-Varina from picking up its second win of the season. Fifteen of her points came in the second half, as Cardinal Gibbons erased a 27-22 halftime deficit.

"It was a concerted effort to get the ball inside," said Cardinal Gibbons coach Jessica Lowe. "Madison did a great job."

The loss was another frustrating one for Fuquay-Varina (1-10), which had to use four players from its junior varsity squad. Coach Monte Bullock said that he challenged his team to play better in the wake of its 29-point loss to Sanderson the previous night.

"We did a good job in the first half, but my girls just don't know how to win yet," he said. "We don't know how to finish and play 32 minutes. That's our problem."

Ava Avedikan finished with a game-high 23 points for Cardinal Gibbons, and Camille Baker and Curisa Johnson finished with 22 and 19 points, respectively, for Fuquay-Varina.

Not only did the win improve Cardinal Gibbons 8-5 record, Lowe said, it also gives them something to build on heading into the new year.

"We played from behind, struggled from the free-throw line and didn't have things go our way, but we still fought to defeat a good basketball team. That's what we're going to have to do when we start playing in our conference. "