North Lenoir sweeps Warriors to open season

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on November 19, 2004 1:56 PM

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It had to be a very long short bus ride back from Institute to New Hope last night for both of Eastern Wayne's varsity basketball teams. The girls lost 61-33, while coach Marvin Bowman's boys dropped a 70-50 decision.

The Warriors' records both stand at 0-2. North Lenoir's' slates both are a perfect 1-0.

Both North Lenoir teams ap-peared to be in midseason form. It did not take coach Wayne Floyd's girls long to put their game into high gear, jumping to a quick 10-4 lead by 3:49 of the first period on four baskets by Shannon Plymouth.

Their hustling, pressing defense created 36 turnovers. They also outrebounded their guests 40-29.

Katie Maloney took over from there. Besides playing great defense on steals and rebounds, the junior was also the game's high scorer with 25 points. Sierra King netted 16 for the Lady Warriors.

"We played great defense all night," said Floyd. "Plymouth, Chanee Lynch, and Shalona Newkirk give us a great returning nucleus. I see great things coming for from their experience."

Eastern Wayne girls coach Brent Holland declined to comment after the game.

Eastern Wayne's Adrian Kendrick hit a lay-up at 3:25 of the first quarter that tied the boys' game at six. That was as close as the Warriors got all night. Antwan Wiggin's reverse lay-up a minute later put the Hawks ahead to stay.

Both team's stats were close. North Lenoir only turned the ball over 12 times to 13 for their guests. Each squad committed only 14 fouls. The Hawks came out on top rebounding 32-24.

The Warriors were unable to contend with the trio of Justin Dunn, Omar Jones, and Wiggins. Dunn, who led the scoring with 24 points, had three baskets in the first quarter and two three-pointers in the second to give North Lenoir a 32-20 lead at the half. After that, Eastern Wayne could never get closer than eight points.

"We missed a lot of lay-ups early in the game," said Eastern coach Marvin Bowman. North Lenoir is a tall team and we might have been intimidated a bit. Justin Dunn is very hard to contain. He can do so many things."

Bowman did point to a lot of positives.

"Don Atkinson did a good job under the boards," he said. "Chris Campbell will be getting his basketball legs after playing football. Justin Richardson was our high scorer tonight with 12 points. We'll be better prepared when we play them again."

Eastern Wayne's next game will be November 29, as it entertains Jacksonville.

North Lenoir's Paul Dunn is about to get over the jitters of taking over the varsity coaching reins.

"I still get a little cottonmouth before the game, and drink a lot of water," he said. "But I'm getting used to it."

Dunn said his team played hard. "That's all I can ask," he said. "When we do, success will come."

North Lenoir will entertain Havelock next Tuesday.

Girls game

Eastern Wayne 7 15 2 9 -- 33

North Lenoir 16 16 13 16 -- 61

EASTERN WAYNE (0-2)

Sierra King 1 3 5-9 16; Kristen Elliott 3 0 0-1 6; Yasmine Washington 2 0 0-0 4; Natasha Wiley 1 0 1-2 3; LaShonda Berry 1 0 0-0 2; Jasmine McLamb 0 0 2-4 2. TOTALS -- 8 3 8-16 33.

NORTH LENOIR (1-0)

Katie Maloney 11 0 3-7 25; Shannon Plymouth 8 0 2-5 18; Shalona Newkirk 3 0 2-6 8; Carla Miller 1 0 1-4 3; Jessica Dunn 1 0 0-0 2; Charee Lynch 1 0 0-0 2; Lemonica Rasberry 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 26 0 9-24 61.

Three-point baskets -- EW 3 (King), NL none. Turnovers -- EW 36, NL 18. Total fouls -- EW 18, NL 18. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- EW (bench).

Boys game

Eastern Wayne 7 13 12 18 -- 50

North Lenoir 16 16 16 22 -- 70

EASTERN WAYNE (0-2)

Justin Richardson 5 0 2-2 12; Landon Downes 2 2 0-0 10; Chris Campbell 2 0 4-6 8; Theo Givens 3 0 0-2 6; Darren Warp 0 0 3-4 3; Michael Wilcox 1 0 0-0 2; Monty Best 0 0 2-2 2;Adrian Kendrick 1 0 0-0 2; Donald Rouse 0 0 2-4 2; D'Adrean Worrell 0 0 1-2 1; Adreanne Battle 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 15 2 14-22 50.

NORTH LENOIR (1-0)

Justin Dunn 6 2 6-7 24; Omar Jones 5 1 4-4 17; Antwan Wiggins 6 0 0-0 12; Sam Edwards 2 0 2-5 6; Adrian Brewer 0 1 2-2 5; Chris Artis 2 0 0-0 4; Eddie Cox 1 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 22 4 14-18 70.

Three-point baskets -- EW 2 (Downes), NL 3 (Dunn 2, Jones, Brewer). Turnovers -- EW 13, NL 12. Total fouls -- EW 14, NL 14. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.