Richland Nor theast’s Kai lyn Webber attempts to get by Irmo’s Brittany Golden. Photo by Careese Robinson A lot can change in a week. For the Irmo girls’ basketball team, it was the difference between being run off the court by Spring Valley January 24 and blazing through Richland Northeast for a lopsided 59- 23 home win Tuesday, January 31.

“It’s all about confidence,” Irmo head coach Monica Williams said. “ We wanted to play well at home, and we finally did.

“ We executed our transition offense extremely well. We executed our half- court offense well, and I thought our defense was a lot better.”

Richland Northeast head coach Scott Nelson had little explanation for his players’ performance.

“ I give credit to Irmo, and their program, but I felt like tonight was more us not showing up,” he said. “We played really well (on January 27), but we came out tonight and just didn’t show up.

Irmo’s Ke’Asia Jackson shootsafree throw against RNE. Photo by Careese Robinson “ I told them that after the game, and I questioned some of them as to whether they have the heart. Some players just don’t want to play hard on defense, and you can’t win anywhere, especially in this region, if you don’t bust your butt on defense.”

Nelson has had to alter his lineup most of the season due to an abnormal amount of injuries to his players.

“In all the years I’ve been coaching, I’ve never had a player with a concussion,” he said. “ This year, we’ve had four. Plus we’ve had girls out with knee injuries and other things, so it’s been tough moving the program forward because we haven’t been able to consistently put the same group of girls on the floor all season long. It’s been survivor mode.”

Ke’Asia Jackson led the Yellow Jackets with 12 points while Briana Baylor added 11. Brittany Golden, who scored six points in the win, also finished with 11 rebounds.

Sherees Rose led all scorers with 13 points for Richland Northeast.