The pre-game festivities on Senior Night did much to inspire the Person Rocket girls, at least for the first five minutes of Tuesday night’s 57-35 loss to the Jordan Falcons.

Senior players Aleisia Elliott and Nickgail Fuller were honored before the game.

Rousing player introductions followed and the atmosphere at Rocket Gymnasium appeared just ripe for an upset win for the home team.

Through the opening half of the first quarter, it looked as if this might be the night Person finally gets a Piedmont Athletic Conference win.

Six points from Brittany Burton, who led the Rockets in scoring for the second game in a row with 14, helped Person jump out to a quick 7-0 lead. In fact, the Rockets held the visitors scoreless for the first five minutes before Jordan’s Tianna Spears drilled a 3-pointer to get the Falcons on the board.

From there, the Rockets would get outscored 29-10 over the remainder of the first half to fall behind 32-17 at the break.

Everything seemed to slide downhill in a flash, and the culprit once again was turnovers that seemed to come in droves, especially in the second quarter.

“It’s the same line, same story — too many turnovers and mistakes,” said Rocket head coach Melinda Goodson, who saw her team drop to 0-13 in the conference with just one regular-season league game remaining at undefeated Hillside Friday. “Before you knew it, it went from a two-point game to a [15-point] game in no time. We started out good but when they put in that trapping 2-3 defense they just took control of the game.”

The second quarter is where it all unraveled for the Rockets, who were outscored 20-6 as a result of intercepted passes, lost balls, and fouls.

The opportunistic Falcons took advantage, especially at the free-throw line, where they connected on their first nine attempts and shot 10-for-12 in the first half (17-for-22 for the game).

The second half was pretty much a foregone conclusion, as the Rockets could not mount any threat.

The scoring line was pretty evenly distributed for Jordan, now 8-5 in the conference. The Falcons got a 16-point, 13-rebound effort from Kristen Lyon, 11 points from Spears and nine from Danielle Deberry.

Along with Burton’s 14 points, Fuller contributed nine, and Danielle Lunsford had four points and six boards for Person, now 3-19 overall and losers of 11 straight.

The Rocket backcourt of Akira Sampson and Ebonee Taylor couldn’t get it going and combined for just four points. Elliott and Destiny Poteat (two points), and Tori Whitfield (one) accounted for the rest of the Person scoring.

As for her two departing seniors, Goodson said Fuller had been a varsity player for four years and Elliott for three. She said they are both fine students who set a good example for the other players.

“They were leaders for us both vocally and on the court,” Goodson said. “Nickgail has really turned it on for us towards the end of the season. They’re both role models and good students.”

The Rockets complete their regular season Friday night at Hillside.

JVs lose to Falcons

Foul trouble was the story once again for the Person girls’ junior varsity team in a 60-52 loss to the Falcons Tuesday.

Jelisa Oakley (nine points) and Jordann Davis (11) fouled out for the second consecutive game as Person fell to 6-7 in the PAC-6 and 8-9 overall with one game left on the season.

“Too many turnovers and fouls led to the loss tonight,” said Rocket JV coach Richard Dickens. “We played hard, we just didn’t play smart.”

Sidney Fitz was Person’s high scorer with 14 points (two treys), while Tondalia Richmond had eight, Rachael Ward six, and Kasse DeVaughn four for the home team.