Eastern Wayne basketball teams sweep visiting Pam Pack

Published in Sports on January 19, 2005 1:55 PM

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There's no place like home.

After playing six of their last seven games on the road, the nomadic Eastern Wayne basketball teams returned to New Hope and kept their Class 3-A Eastern Carolina postseason hopes alive with a sweep over visiting Washington High.

Both teams evened their conference records at 5-5. They also came up with their best "team wins" of the season. The girls won their game 42-30, while the boys sent the Pam Pack packing, smarting from a 74-54 pasting.

While turnovers never literally appear on the scoreboard as points, they may as well have. The Washington girls surrendered the ball 30 times, compared to only 20 for the Lady Warriors. Marvin Bowman's boys had only 11 miscues, compared to 20 for their guests.

"Not pretty," were the thoughts of coach Brent Holland about the girls game. "But, I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty. We had lost three tough ones and we'll take it."

It took the Lady Warriors' offense mere seconds to get on the scoreboard. Natashia Wiley sent the opening tip-off over to Sierra King, who raced downcourt for an easy opening layup.

Holland had the right offense called to start the game. He directed guards King and Yasmine Washington to feed the ball to center Kristen Elliott. Before she got into early foul trouble, Elliott hit two easy baskets from the lane, and was a force to be reckoned with under the boards.

Until she returned in the fourth quarter, scoring chores were turned over to Washington and Natasha Wiley. The duo brought their club back from a 18-13 half-time deficit. Washington, high scorer on the night with 15, canned two three-pointers and a basket in the third quarter. Wiley, who had 12, connected on two of her six baskets in the same period.

"Everyone stepped up tonight," said Holland. "Our guards controlled the ball, minimizing turnovers. Elliott came back in the fourth quarter and teamed up with Wiley to get us those big buckets down the stretch when we needed them." Washington scored the first three baskets of the boys game. It looked as though the Warriors might be in for a different type of contest. That is until center Chris Campbell's slam dunk kicked-off Eastern Wayne's scoring at 5:07. The partisan crowd could feel the momentum turning for good a minute and a half later, when he converted on a three-point play, tying the score at seven.

Campbell turned scoring matters over to Justin Richardson. Down by four going into the second quarter, he led a 14-0 surge over the opening four minutes, that gave the Warriors a commanding 25-15 lead.

An unwavering defense held Washington to only two more baskets before intermission. Coach Jason Smith's quintet turned the ball over six times and had only two rebounds. Star guard Calvin Daniels, the game's high scorer on the night with 24, was held to one of those baskets.

When Washington started creeping back, 33-26, halfway through the third quarter, Eastern Wayne sent a scoring blitz their way again. Campbell, Richardson, and Adrian Kendrick led the 9-0 run. Besides Richardson, three other Warriors hit for double figures. Campbell had 15, Landon Downes 13, and Kendrick 12. D'Adrean Worrell just missed being in the group with eight.

"We played hard for 32 minutes," said Bowman. "Everyone contributed."

Eastern Wayne will travel to Morehead City Friday night to face West Cartaret.