Southern Wayne rolls past Spring Creek

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on December 11, 2005 2:14 AM

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DUDLEY -- Midway through the first quarter against visiting Spring Creek, Southern Wayne's Akeem Royal rushed a 3-point shot. Saints' coach Mike Connelley urged the senior to make the extra pass to the wing.

The next time down the floor, Royal followed his coaches instruction -- finding fellow senior Derrick Garris in the corner for an open three. Friday's game was full of that kind of execution on both ends of the court for Southern Wayne.

In a run that stretched through most of the first quarter and the early stages of the second, the deeper Saints outscored the Gators 31-4 and eventually claimed an 89-53 victory.

Royal led the way for Southern Wayne with 24 points, including 21 in a first half that saw the Saints lead 48-23 at the break. Another senior, Delawn Armwood, contributed 17 points and nine rebounds, while four more Southern Wayne (4-1) players had seven points or more.

"We should be better than last year, because we have seniors. We've still got a lot of room to grow, but what I'm happy about is our defense. I love man-to-man defense," Southern Wayne coach Mike Connelley said. "If we make a few more improvements, you're going to have to bring your best game to beat us."

Dalreese Bell finished with 24 points for Spring Creek, including 14 of his team's 23 points in the first half. Cliff Wilson added 14 for the Gators, which fell to 4-3 overall.

In the girls game, Southern Wayne's pressure defense forced many of the Lady Gators' 49 turnovers as the Saints got a number of easy transition baskets in a 66-44 win.

Southern Wayne's Ebony Darden, Shakoria Clark and Lynnesha Leonard tallied 15 points each, while Kiera Ingram chipped in nine.

Despite the turnovers, Spring Creek had the Saints' lead down to six at 39-33 with 2:30 left in the third quarter, but never got closer. Southern Wayne posted a 9-2 run to start the fourth, keyed by a 3-point play by Darden, to boost the advantage to 56-38 -- steadily pulling away.

"We've been working on defense all week. The first half we were kind of sluggish, but the second half we played a lot of full court man to man," said Southern Wayne assistant girls coach Clifton Broadhurst. "We didn't look too good at New Hanover on Wednesday, so we wanted to get back to work tonight."

Brittani Billups and Shaquita Brooks had nine points apiece for the Gators (1-6), while Barbara Witherington added eight and Anna Potter had seven.

"We keep trying to motivate them any way we can, but they've got to go out and play," Spring Creek coach Mandy Ramjford said.

"I had a couple of players step up tonight. We've been in every game, but we just can't get over the hump."

The Saints' boys easily won the turnover battle 24-8 and finished with 53 total rebounds with a whopping 27 on the offensive end. Southern Wayne got to the line 24 more times than the Gators and shot a sizzling 26-of-34 (76 percent) from the stripe.

"If you can pressure the ball on defense and can get to the boards and draw fouls, you're going to be tough to beat," Connelley said. "We shoot the ball well, but we always try to attack the basket first. Tonight we did a terrific job of going to the hoop."

Spring Creek got out of the gate fast, jumping out to a 7-2 lead after a pull-up 3-pointer by Bell. Armwood quickly answered with the first of seven threes for the Saints. The Gators committed seven turnovers before the end of the first as Royal caught fire on the offensive end with 12 points before the end of one.

A drive-and-score by Armwood made it 22-9, capping a 20-2 run to close the opening quarter.

"I think the biggest thing is their (Southern Wayne's) athleticism. They're so quick, agile and they can all jump," Spring Creek boys coach Sonny Kilpatrick said, "Plus, it's real obvious they have played together for a long time. I knew they were going to be tough once I saw they beat New Hanover. You don't play Southern Wayne expecting to beat them every year, but it can't help but makes us better when we get to conference."

The Saints' intensity continued into the second as Royal and the Saints continued to attack on both ends. By the end of the half, Southern Wayne was 16-of-17 from the free-throw line and led 48-23.

Foul trouble, along with the inability to match the Saints' depth and athleticism plagued Spring Creek into the third as three Gators' starters had three fouls just two minutes into the second half. Both Connelley and Kilpatrick got plenty of minutes from their respective reserves in the third and fourth quarter as Southern Wayne's lead was never in doubt.

Both teams return to non-conference action on Tuesday. Southern Wayne hosts Smithfield-Selma, while the Gators travel to Newton Grove to face Hobbton.

Girls game

Spring Creek 5 20 11 8 -- 44

Southern Wayne 11 21 15 19 -- 66

SPRING CREEK (1-6)

Brittani Billups 4 0 1-2 9, Shaquita Brooks 0 3 0-0 9, Vanity Brooks 1 0 0-0 2, Breanna Edwards 0 0 0-1 0, Sarah Parks 1 0 2-5 4, Maura Phipps 1 0 0-1 2, Anna Potter 1 1 2-2 7, Tomeka Pride 1 0 1-4 3, Barbara Witherington 3 0 2-2 8. TOTALS -- 12 4 8-16 44.

SOUTHERN WAYNE (2-3)

Lynn Grantham 1 0 0-0 2, Ebony Darden 7 0 1-5 15, Shakoria Clark 3 2 3-4 15, Kiera Ingram 2 0 5-6 9, Charice Sherrard 0 0 1-4 1, Lynnesha Leonard 4 1 4-6 15, Lassandra Jones 0 0 0-2 0, Jamika Allen 1 0 2-2 4, Rikeshia Tillman 1 1 0-1 5. TOTALS -- 19 4 16-30 66.

3-point goals -- Spring Creek 4 (S. Brooks 3, Potter), Southern Wayne 4 (Clark 2, Leonard, Tillman). Turnovers -- Spring Creek 49, Southern Wayne 26. Total fouls -- Spring Creek 23, Southern Wayne 20. Fouled out -- Potter (SC). Technical fouls -- none.

Boys game

Spring Creek 9 14 11 19 -- 53

Southern Wayne 22 26 22 19 -- 89

SPRING CREEK (4-3)

Dalreese Bell 4 4 4-5 24, Cliff Wilson 5 1 1-1 14, Daniel Chewning 1 0 0-2 2, Josh Wright 3 0 2-2 8, Desmund Raeford 1 0 0-0 2, Cody Rose 0 1 0-0 3. TOTALS -- 14 6 7-10 53.

SOUTHERN WAYNE (4-1)

Derrick Garris 0 2 3-4 9, Akeem Royal 5 2 8-9 24, Austin Hood 0 0 2-2 2, Delawn Armwood 4 1 6-8 17, Kendrick Thompson 1 0 0-0 2, Antonio Davis 3 0 1-2 7, Justin Bellamy 3 0 2-2 8, Andre Langston 1 1 1-1 6, Jay Connelley 0 0 1-2 1, Jon Hart 2 1 0-0 7, Jaffari Ward 2 0 2-4 4. TOTALS -- 21 7 26-34 89.

3-point goals -- Spring Creek 6 (Bell 4, Wilson, Rose), Southern Wayne 7 (Garris 2, Royal 2, Armwood, Langston, Hart). Turnovers -- Spring Creek 24, Southern Wayne 8. Total fouls -- Spring Creek 23, Southern Wayne 17. Fouled out -- Chewning (SC). Technical fouls -- none.