Golden Falcon girls collect first ECC win of 2004

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 12, 2004 2:01 AM

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PIKEVILLE -- A little intimidated by Kinston's physical play and suffering from missing its key ball-handler, the Charles B. Aycock girls basketball team needed a little spark Friday evening.

Lightning struck twice.

Head coach Gary Hales received a technical foul in the third quarter, and urged his team to play through the call. Quaneisha Milner, plagued by foul trouble in the opening half, returned to run a smooth floor game and help the Golden Falcons turn back Kinston 49-41.

Aycock (2-6) claimed its first Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference win of the season while Kinston endured its initial league defeat in three outings. Hales' team beat the Vikings for the first time since winning the inaugural ECC regular-season title in 2001-02.

Each varsity boys team entered Friday's league tilt with the same goal -- erase the goose egg off their respective ECC ledgers. The Vikings (2-4, 1-2) succeeded, extinguishing a minimal halftime deficit and rolling past the Golden Falcons 86-71.

"The girls came and out responded to our challenge at halftime," Hales said. "Foul trouble in the first hurt us and they really responded to what we wanted to do -- control the boards and transition defense."

Hales picked up the technical midway through the third period with Aycock facing a sizable deficit. The call seemed to inspire the players, who increased their intensity in their man-to-man defense.

The Golden Falcons (2-6, 0-3) whittled away the Vikings' lead and pulled within 32-31 on back-to-back baskets by Keyatta Pettiford. On the next possession, Jazzmine Lee knocked the ball away from Kinston guard Krystal Suggs and headed for the goal.

Suggs committed a hard foul on the play, but Lee drilled both free throws for a 32-31 Aycock advantage. It was the Golden Falcons' first lead since 2-0 in the opening period.

Kinston forged a 35-35 tie, but could never collect the go-ahead bucket. Unforced errors against the Golden Falcons' defense and missed shots underneath the basket led to the visitors' undoing. Milner constantly moved the ball around the perimeter as Aycock built a three-possession lead throughout the final quarter.

Aycock collected its biggest lead, 45-37, on Milner's back-door assist to Jasmine Dobbin with 3:33 left. The basket capped an 18-5 run.

"I was really surprised our man-to-man gave them that much trouble. I think we found something that works against them," Hales said. "Quaneisha is a floor leader. She's got to be on the floor to control us and settle us down -- defensively and offensively."

Pettiford finished with a game-high 17 points, including 15 in the second half. Milner contributed 11.

"I told the girls this is our house and they've got to defend it, take some pride in it," a smiling Hales said. ""Hopefully, this is the right direction in getting a confidence booster that we need; something to get us on the right track.

"We've been a good team, but needed something to get us over the hump."

The Golden Falcon boys battled back from an early 9-2 deficit to grab a 21-18 lead after eight action-packed minutes in the boys' contest. Rob Phillips' 3-pointer off Santavin Poole's assist gave Aycock a 41-32 lead late in the second quarter before the Vikings pulled within 41-35 at intermission.

Second-year coach David West commended his team's effort for not losing its composure during Kinston's first offensive run. However, the Golden Falcons lost their intensity at halftime and let the Vikings dictate the tempo in the second half.

"We played a good first half, but too bad for us they make you come out after halftime and play again," West said. "Maybe they hit a couple of low points in the first half and we hit our high points. They made that big run at us in the third quarter, and they got us.

"We lost our intensity, too."

Kinston erupted for 28 points in the third quarter and owned a five-point lead heading into the final period. The Golden Falcons committed numerous turnovers against the Vikings' gambling-style defense and those miscues led to several transition baskets.

"The biggest thing is we missed some rotations and gambled a little bit too much, but from the way that we've been playing, I'll take that any day of the week," said Kinston coach Wells Gulledge of his team's first-half effort. "We made some adjustments about not gambling unless its there, and we kept them in front of us. We jumped in the passing lanes a little bit more."

Felton Mason led five Vikings in double figures with 18 points, while J'mell Walters added 15. Darryl Jones tallied 13, followed by Teyon Marshall with 11 and Steven Sherrod with 10.

Poole, coming off a monster career-best game against Southern Wayne, had 17 for Aycock. Bryan Moore and Montrel Sims each scored 14, while Phillips knocked down 11.

The Golden Falcons return to action Monday at West Craven.

Girls game

Kinston 9 13 10 9 -- 41

C.B. Aycock 4 9 11 16 -- 49

KINSTON (2-3, 2-1 ECC)

Sherita Gooding 0 0 0-0 0, Krystal Suggs 1 1 1-3 6, Courtney Smith 1 1 1-2 6, Phylicia Dunn 2 0 0-0 4, Gabriell Taylor 2 0 1-2 5, Shaquala Rhodes 3 0 0-7 6, Krystal Fuller 0 0 1-4 1, Demicka McMhan 2 1 4-6 11, Matika Russell 1 0 0-4 2. TOTALS -- 12 3 8-28 41.

C.B. AYCOCK (2-6, 1-2)

Jasmine Dobbin 2 0 3-6 7, Alisa Dobbin 0 0 0-0 0, Quaneisha Milner 3 0 5-13 11, Laquita Broadie 0 0 0-0 0, Jazzmine Lee 0 0 3-6 3, Keyata Pettiford 6 1 2-5 17, Emily Stewart 2 0 1-4 5, Erin Medford 3 0 0-0 6, Danielle Street 0 0 0-0 0. TOTALS -- 16 1 14-34 49.

Three-point goals -- Kinston 3 (Suggs, Smith, McMhan), C.B. Aycock 1 (Pettiford). Turnovers -- Kinston 22, C.B. Aycock 19. Total fouls -- Kinston 22, C.B. Aycock 22. Fouled out -- Suggs, McMhan. Technical fouls -- CBA bench.

Boys game

Kinston 18 17 28 23 -- 86

C.B. Aycock 21 20 17 13 -- 71

KINSTON (2-4, 1-2)

LePaul Foye 1 0 0-0 2, K.K. Sherrod 1 0 2-2 4, Teyon Marshall 4 1 0-1 11, Darryl Jones 5 0 3-4 13, Miguel Starkey 2 0 0-0 4, J'Mell Walters 4 1 4-5 15, Calvin Miller 1 0-0 2, Marquis Grant 0 0 0-0 0, Felton Mason 7 0 4-7 18, Steven Sherrod 5 0 0-0 10, Jamar Carraway 1 1 2-4 7. TOTALS -- 31 3 15-23 86.

C.B. AYCOCK (2-6, 0-3)

Michael Gurganus 1 1 0-0 5, Yuri Howell 0 0 0-0 0, Brandon Hobbs 0 1 0-0 3, Montez Ham 0 0 0-0 0, Rob Phillips 2 1 4-6 11, Montrel Sims 5 1 1-2 14, Lamada Williams 1 0 0-0 2, Bryan Moore 7 0 0-2 14, Erik Langston 0 0 0-0 0, Chris Foreman 1 0 1-3 3, Santavin Poole 6 0 5-12 17. TOTALS -- 23 4 12-24 71.

Three-point goals -- Kinston 3 (Marshall, Walters, Carraway), C.B. Aycock 4 (Gurganus, Hobbs, Phillips, Sims). Turnovers -- Kinston 15, C.B. Aycock 19. Total fouls -- Kinston 23, C.B. Aycock 20. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.