Tied at 29 at the five-minute mark of the third quarter, the Person girls’ junior varsity team fell victim to a huge surge by the Southern Durham Spartans and were defeated, 64-46, Friday night.

Southern went on a 19-7 spurt to end the third and took a healthy 48-36 lead into the final stanza.

With two of their top players — guards Jelisa Oakley and Jordann Davis — in foul trouble and eventually fouling out of the contest, the Rockets could not muster a challenge in the final period.

Person JV coach Richard Dickens said the loss of his two guards really hurt, especially in terms of running the offense and playing aggressive on defense.

“We ended up playing a lot of zone defense because of foul trouble and that’s not something we’re used to,” he said. “We just have to keep working on it and try to stay out of foul trouble. We’ve got two more games and I hope we finish strong.”

Sidney Fitz led the Rockets with 16 points, followed by eight from Tondalia Richmond, six each from Rachael Ward and Oakley, and five from Davis.

Alex Beauford’s three points and two by Kasse DeVaughn closed out the scoring for Person, which fell to 6-6 in the conference and 8-8 overall.