Warrior girls prevail in overtime; boys lose fourth-quarter lead

Published in Sports on December 1, 2004 1:56 PM

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Both basketball games played at New Hope Tuesday night went down to the wire as Eastern Wayne split a doubleheader with South Central.

Coach Brent Holland's Lady Warriors picked up their first win of the season, 58-57. The girls' record stands at 1-0 in the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference and 1-3 overall.

Marvin Bowman's boys dropped a heartbreaker to the Falcons, 68-65. The boys' slate is 0-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play.

After a lackluster first half, a different girls team came out for the third quarter. Outscoring its guests 19-6, Eastern Wayne methodically erased a 12-point halftime deficit. A balanced attack was led by Sierra King chipping in seven points. She was backed up by Yasmine Washington and La Niece Sims with two baskets each.

Deniz Alemdar's lone basket of the game brought the crowd to their feet. With 1:02 left in the quarter, her score gave her squad their first lead since midway through the first period.

South Central did not head back to Pitt County without a fight -- racing to a seemingly commanding 47-39 lead with less than three minutes remaining in the game.

Then, Washington scored 11 points down the stretch as her two free throws cut the South Central lead to 49-47 with 28 seconds left in regulation. Her three-pointer as time expired sent the game into overtime.

Washington still wasn't through. Her second score with 54 seconds left in overtime proved to be the game winner as she finished the night as high scorer with 28 points. Sierra King dropped in 17 points for the Warriors. A tenacious defense, led by Kristen Elliott, killed the last five seconds of play with the ball under the South Central basket.

Holland was elated with the win.

"Hard work does pay off," he said. "Washington really stepped up tonight to support Sierra. Though injured earlier in the game, Elliott came back to play a pivotal role in the win. No one is playing harder than Sims."

South Central coach Mari Rhodes had a different take on the outcome.

"We got hammered by the officials," she said. "I felt we got screwed on some calls."

The boys contest was a game of spurts.

Eastern Wayne, buoyed by baskets by Adrian Kendrick, Chris Campbell and Darren Ward, got off to an early 9-2 lead. South Central's Montel Smith and Montarrio Haddock helped their team keep pace as the momentum switched back-and-forth.

Ward and Kendrick stepped it up a notch in the third quarter. Kendrick connected on two of his five 3-pointers, while Ward bagged four of his five baskets to give the Warriors a 51-48 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Smith, who had 19 points, and Haddock who was high scorer with 27, helped South Central erase the lead for good. Campbell and Justin Richardson, however, made it close in the final minutes of play.

They were able to narrow the lead to one, 66-65, with seconds left, but that was as close as they could get.

Foul-shooting accuracy may have been the determining factor in the outcome. South Central hit an outstanding 14 of 18 free throws. Eastern Wayne could only muster 7 for 13.

"I knew South Central would be tough," said Bowman. "They had the majority of their team back. We continue to improve. Ward played extremely well. But, we need to win some of these home games."

Eastern Wayne will travel to Washington Friday night.

Girls game

South Central 11 16 6 17 7 -- 57

Eastern Wayne 9 6 19 16 8 -- 58

SOUTH CENTRAL (1-1, 0-1)

Katie Holloman 4 0 5-8 13; Sheresh Milk 4 0 1-4 9; Alecia Moore 4 0 1-1 9; Alecia Jones 0 1 4-6 7; Jasmine Bryant 2 0 0-0 4; Karen Harker 2 0 0-1 4; Kelsey McCorkle 1 0 1-2 3; Stephaney Newkirk 1 0 1-2 3; Kemia Smith 0 0 3-3 3; Jessica Joyner 1 0 0-1 2. TOTALS -- 19 1 16-28 57.

EASTERN WAYNE (1-3, 1-0)

Yasmine Washington 9 1 7-9 28; Sierra King 5 1 4-4 17; La Niece Sims 3 0 0-2 6; Natasha Wiley 1 0 1-2 3; Kristen Elliott 1 0 0-0 2; Deniz Alemdar 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 20 2 12-17 58.

Three-point baskets -- South Central 1 (Jones), Eastern Wayne 2 (King, Washington). Turnovers -- South Central -- 26, Eastern Wayne 25. Total fouls -- South Central 15, Eastern Wayne 17. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.

Boys game

South Central 16 20 12 20 -- 68

Eastern Wayne 13 20 18 14 -- 65

SOUTH CENTRAL (1-1, 1-0)

Montarrio Haddock 11 0 5-6 27; Montel Smith 4 2 5-6 19; Jonathan Williams 4 0 2-3 10; Augustine Sebera 1 1 0-1 5; Leland Jones 0 1 2-2 5; Jamal Cross 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 21 4 14-18 68.

EASTERN WAYNE (0-4, 0-1)

Adrian Kendrick 2 5 0-0 19; Chris Campbell 5 0 3-7 13; Darren Ward 6 0 1-1 13; Justin Richardson 2 1 2-2 9; Donald Rouse 2 0 1-2 5; Landon Downes 1 0 0-0 2; Theo Givens 1 0 0-1 2; D'Adrean Worrell 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 20 6 7-13 65.

Three-point baskets -- South Central 4 (Smith 2, Sebera, Jones), Eastern Wayne 6 (Kendrick 5, Richardson). Turnovers -- South Central 25, Eastern Wayne 17. Total fouls -- South Central 11, Eastern Wayne 18. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.