Golden Falcon girls shock previously-unbeaten Hawks

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on December 14, 2005 2:08 PM

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LaGRANGE -- It's a safe bet that no team in recent history has committed over 30 turnovers against the pressure defense of North Lenoir's girls basketball team and walked out of Wooten Gymnasium with a win.

Charles B. Aycock defied those odds on Tuesday night.

The Lady Falcons outscored the home team 20-5 in the third quarter -- getting clutch baskets from Quaneisha Milner and Jazzmine Lee along with solid team defense -- on their way to a 57-48 win over the previously-unbeaten Lady Hawks (7-1).

Aycock lost the turnover battle 33-15, but easily won the edge on the boards -- finishing with 33 total rebounds. North Lenoir rarely got more than one shot on the offensive end as Emily Stewart and Jasmine Dobbins pulled down 10 boards apiece.

The Lady Falcons (5-4) avenged a 20-point loss to North Lenoir in Pikeville earlier this season.

"Tonight was a big win for our girls. We lost by 20 the first time and stepped up tonight and played pretty well," Vail said. "That third quarter was probably the best quarter we've played all year."

In the boys game, Aycock hung tough through most of the first three quarters, trailing by only seven as late as the five-minute mark of the third. Still, North Lenoir consistently answered the Golden Falcons' challenges as the Hawks pulled away for a 92-72 victory.

Santavin Poole tallied a team-best 26 points for Aycock (1-8), while Rob Phillips chipped in 22 points for the Falcons with at least four points in each quarters.

Keyed by the hot shooting of Adrian Brewer, who drilled eight, 3-pointers, and the low post play of Omar Jones (24 points), the Hawks improved to 7-1 on the season.

"You can take away one thing and they come back with the other. They are well-coached and extremely talented," Aycock boys coach David West said. "They played their ball game and forced us to play their ball game.

"We didn't play well enough to win anything tonight. We didn't listen and execute, but give credit to North Lenoir for not allowing us to execute."

Aycock got out of the gate solid, taking an early 7-2 lead with Poole scoring five of those points. Thanks to three, 3-pointers from Brewer in the first, North Lenoir erased that deficit to lead 26-15 after one.

Trailing 36-31, the Falcons had several chances to draw closer before the half, but couldn't cash in on some open looks in the post as the Hawks took a 42-33 lead into the break. North Lenoir never trailed in the second half as its potent offense hindered any hope of an Aycock comeback.

The Hawks' Eddie Cox tossed up a couple of nice, alley-oop passes in the second half to Jones and Samuel Edwards, who added 10 points, while reserve Adrian Massey threw down a thunderous two-handed dunk in the waning seconds to put an exclamation point on the non-conference win.

"Our goal tonight was to put a complete game together. That's what they did tonight," North Lenoir coach Paul Dunn III said. "We're getting ready to play in a big-time conference, and the guys are working hard."

Aycock's girls put three players in double figures as Emily Stewart finished with 18 points despite being saddled with foul trouble for most of the second half. Quaneisha Milner contributed 18 points, including eight during the third-quarter run. Jazzmine Lee added 13 points, nine coming in the third.

Vail insists the keys to the win were defense and rebounding as Aycock went to a 3-2 zone in the second half with hopes of slowing down North Lenoir's Katie Maloney, who had 15 of her game-high 24 points in the first half.

The plan worked as Maloney finished with just two field goals after intermission, and Aycock outscored the Hawks 32-21 during the second half. The Golden Falcons' largest lead was at 45-27 late in the third quarter after a steal-and-score by Lee.

"In the second half, our girls did the best we've done all year in controlling the boards," Vail said. "In the first half they had some put-backs and second chances, then we switched to a 3-2 zone and that took No. 24 (Maloney) out in the middle."

Despite trailing most of the second half, North Lenoir kept fighting from behind thanks to three, 3-pointers in the fourth quarter from Carla Miller.

The Golden Falcons return to action Thursday at Northern Nash, before hosting Clayton on Friday. The Hawks take on arch-rival South Lenoir on Friday in Deep Run.

Girls game

C.B. Aycock 13 12 20 12 -- 57

North Lenoir 8 19 5 16 -- 48

C.B. AYCOCK (5-4)

Emily Stewart 6 0 6-9 18, Quaneisha Milner 2 3 5-7 18, Jazzmine Lee 5 1 0-0 13, Jasmine Dobbins 2 0 3-6 7, Erin Medford 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS - 15 4 15-24 57.

NORTH LENOIR (7-1)

Katie Maloney 8 0 8-10 24, Carla Miller 2 3 1-2 14, Keshonia Miller 1 1 0-0 5, Helena Davis 2 0 1-4 5, Lashura Spruil 0 0 0-2 0. TOTALS - 13 4 10-18 48.

3-point goals - C.B. Aycock 4 (Milner 3, Lee), North Lenoir 4 (C. Miller 3, K. Miller). Turnovers - C.B. Aycock 33, North Lenoir 15. Total fouls - C.B. Aycock 15, North Lenoir 18. Fouled out - Spruil (NL). Technical fouls - none.

Boys game

C.B. Aycock 15 18 18 21 -- 72

North Lenoir 26 16 21 29 -- 92

C.B. AYCOCK (1-8)

Santavin Poole 10 0 6-7 26, Rob Phillips 5 2 6-6 22, Lamada Williams 2 1 1-2 8, Nick Weaver 1 0 0-0 2, Montez Ham 1 0 0-0 2, Thomas Artis 0 0 3-4 3, Evan Medford 0 0 2-2 2, Brandon Price 1 0 2-2 4, Tim Alston 1 0 1-5 3. TOTALS - 21 3 21-28 72.

NORTH LENOIR (7-1)

Adrian Brewer 2 8 4-4 32, Omar Jones 8 0 8-9 24, Samuel Edwards 5 0 0-0 10, Emmanuel Rosber 4 0 0-0 8, Eddie Cox 1 1 0-0 5, Joshua Hines 1 0 1-1 3, Jackie Sutton, Jr. 1 0 0-0 2, Chris Artis 1 0 0-0 2, Adrian Massey 1 0 0-0 2, Eric Edge 2 0 0-0 4. TOTALS - 26 9 13-14 92.

3-point goals - C.B. Aycock 3 (Phillips 2, Williams), North Lenoir 9 (Brewer 8, Cox). Turnovers - C.B. Ayocck 15, North Lenoir 14. Fouled out - none. Technical fouls - West (CBA).