Spring Creek, Princeton split Carolina 1-A twinbill

Published in Sports on January 8, 2006 2:17 AM

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PRINCETON -- Class 1-A Carolina Conference rivals Spring Creek and Princeton split a pair of varsity games Friday night in two hotly contested games decided in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs exploded for 28 points in the fourth quarter and defeated the Gators 55-44, denying Spring Creek its second consecutive conference win.

The Spring Creek Boys watched a 3-point shot by the Bulldogs bang off the rim at the buzzer as the Gators held on for their first conference win of the season.

The Princeton girls trailed 29-27 after three quarters of play, before C.C. Sanders took over the game in the fourth -- scoring 13 of her game high 21 points.

Both teams struggled early and the first quarter was full of turnovers and personal fouls. Princeton led the low scoring first half 14-12.

"We fell behind and made some turnovers and they got some easy baskets," Princeton girls coach Ricky Boyette said.

The Gators 17-point third quarter featured eight points by Vanity Brooks including two lay-ups after steals.

Sanders was a sizzling 7-of-8 from the foul line for the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter after being held to only four points in the first half. Stephanie Daughtry aided Princeton's fourth-quarter rally by tossing in seven of her 13 points in the final eight minutes.

"We changed our offense a little in the second half and brought CC up to the post. Stephanie got going in the second half and that really helped us," Boyette said.

The Lady Gators were led in scoring by Brittani Billups with 12 points and Sarah Parks with 10.

Spring Creek girls coach Mandy Ramjford was far from displeased with her teams play.

"We had a good team effort for three quarters tonight ... not boxing out, turnovers, and defense killed us in the fourth quarter. If we keep working hard, we are going to make some noise in the conference." she said.

The boys game was a close from buzzer-to-buzzer with neither team able to pull away. Princeton led 23-20 at the intermission, only to see the Gators come back to tie the score after three quarters.

The Bulldogs played a box-and-one defense on the Gators' Dalreese Bell and held the high-scoring guard to two points.

"The played a box-and-one defense on Bell, and we decided to leave it alone. Their best player had to defend him and that freed up some other guys," Spring Creek boys coach Sonny Kilpatrick said. "Dalreese is a good player and does not try and force shots."

With Bell being closely guarded, Daniel Chewning took over for the Gators and scored 21 points. Chewning had 14 points in the second half as the Gators warmed up from the field.

Cliff Wilson was the only other Spring Creek player in double figures with 12 points, including three, 3-point baskets.

Princeton was able to match Spring Creek's hot shooting in the second half, until a cold spurt by the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter allowed the Gators to escape with the victory.

Adam Nethercutt (14 points), Ryan Daughtry (13 points) and Patrick Bunch (10 points) led a balanced Princeton offense and the three players accounted for all six of Princeton's 3-pointers.

Spring Creek led 45-44 with fifty seconds left. The last minute of the game saw four timeouts and numerous turnovers as neither team was able to deliver a final knock out punch.

Princeton stole the ball at midcourt with 36 seconds left but missed a shot and had to foul with only 24 seconds left. Spring Creek made two foul shots but turned the ball over two times to Princeton in the final seconds.

With only two seconds left in the game, Spring Creek was trying to inbound the ball and a long pass hit the light fixture at the ceiling -- giving the Bulldogs one more chance to tie the game. Princeton got the shot they wanted, but the 3-pointer bounced off the rim.

"The last shot we had a chance. I told my team sometimes the game is decided by that one time you don't get on the floor after a loose ball," Princeton boys coach Jeff Davis said. "We have a young team, and sometimes we don't pay attention to detail. I was happy with the team fighting hard to the end of the game."

Kilpatrick felt very fortunate that his team won.

"I thought Princeton was more than ready to play us. I am tickled to death to win our first game this year away from home," he said.

Girls

Spring Creek 6 6 17 15 -- 44

Princeton 8 6 13 28 -- 55

SPRING CREEK (2-13, 1-1)

Sarah Parks 3 0 4-5 10; Shaquita Brooks 0 2 0-0 6; Tomeka Pride 2 0 1-2 5; Anna Potter 1 0 1-2 3; Brittani Bilups 4 0 4-8 12; Vanity Brooks 3 0 2-4 8. TOTALS -- 13 2 12-21 44.

PRINCETON (9-4, 1-0)

Stephanie Daughtry 5 1 0-0 13; Brittani Davis 2 0 0-0 4; Amber Wood 1 0 0-0 2; Brittany Baker 0 0 2-2 2; Brittany Rose 0 0 3-4 3; CC Sanders 7 0 7-8 21; Sarah Gibbs 0 0 2-2 2; Cynthia Peedin 4 0 0-0 8. TOTALS -- 19 1 14-16 55.

3-point goals -- Spring Creek 2 (Brooks 2), Princeton 1 (Daughtry). Total fouls -- Spring Creek 19, Princeton 18. Turnovers -- Spring Creek 35, Princeton 31. Fouled out -- V. Brooks (SC), Sanders, Davis (PHS). Technical fouls -- none.

Boys

Spring Creek 8 12 15 12 -- 47

Princeton 13 9 13 9 -- 44

SPRING CREEK (5-10, 1-1)

Cliff Wilson 1 3 1-2 12; Daniel Chewning 8 1 2-3 21; Dalreese Bell 1 0 0-1 2; Josh Wright 0 0 1-2 1; Desmund Raeford 1 0 2-3 4; Carsheme Ruffin 3 0 0-1 6; David Harris 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS -- 14 4 7-14 47.

PRINCETON (6-9, 0-1)

Phillip Croom 1 0 0-0 2; Patrick Bunch 1 2 2-2 10; Ryan Daughtry 2 3 0-0 13; Adam Nethercutt 5 1 1-2 14; Taylor Lane 1 0 0-0 2; Josh Barefoot 0 0 3-6 3. TOTALS -- 10 6 6-10 44.

3-point baskets -- Spring Creek 4 (Wilson 3, Chewning), Princeton 6 (Bunch 2, Daughtry 3, Nethercutt). Total fouls -- Spring Creek 16, Princeton 13. Turnovers -- Spring Creek 9, Princeton 11. Fouled out -- Wilson (SC), Daughtry (PHS). Technical fouls -- none