SW girls, Bruin boys emerge

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on February 14, 2006 2:27 PM

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WILSON -- Keyed by improved defense in the second half, Southern Wayne's girls basketball team erased a seven-point halftime deficit and claimed a 47-38 win over rival Eastern Wayne in the first round of the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference tournament at Wilson Beddingfield on Monday.

Shakoria Clark scored a team-high 14 points, including 10 in the second half, for the Lady Saints, while Lynnesha Leonard added 13 points.

By virtue of Southern Wayne being the top seed in the boys bracket, the fifth-seed Lady Saints (7-13) will move on to face undefeated and state-ranked Beddingfield in Dudley on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the semifinals.

"We're not going to change a lot about what we do. Hopefully we can execute better and put some pressure on them," said Southern Wayne coach Sally Combs about her team's next game against Beddingfield. "They've got a couple of good post players (October Harris and Jean Best), and that will be something we'll have to deal with."

Eastern Wayne, which won the last meeting against the Lady Saints and split the regular-season series, finished the season at 3-21 overall. Leading scorer, Yasmine Washington, scored 14 points for Eastern Wayne and will lead a large group of returning players for coach Brent Holland

"Out of the 14 girls we dressed, 13 are coming back. We're giving them one month off, then they'll get their skill-development schedule," Holland said. "They're going to have to get in the gym and get better."

In the boys' first-round game, the host and third-seeded Bruins rolled out to a 47-25 halftime lead behind a dominant second quarter on their way to a 85-67 victory over the No. 6 Warriors.

Keyed by a hot start from the field by Lamar Davis, Eastern Wayne jumped out to a 13-10 lead four minutes into the first quarter.

From there, Beddingfield asserted itself on the inside, very rarely giving the Warriors more than one shot on the offensive end, while scoring on their fair share of offensive boards.

As Sabbion Locus (18 points) and Alfred Artis (16 points) controlled the paint, teammate Mike Anderson, who added 16 points, was solid from the outside, making two, 3-pointers midway through the second to cap a 25-5 run that pushed the score to 35-18.

"They were strong inside. They didn't miss a shot inside, and we weren't doing the job on the boards," Eastern Wayne coach Marvin Bowman said. "Our defense wasn't rotating properly, and I think a few of the guys were trying too hard, instead of relaxing and letting the game come to them.

Down 22 at the break, the Warriors seemed energized early in the third quarter and pulled within 57-43 after a basket by Darryl Cowan, who had a game-best 21 points.

Eastern Wayne would get no closer.

The Bruins countered with a 10-0 run to close the third, capped by a steal-and-score off of an errant inbounds pass by the Warriors to push it back to 67-43 heading into the fourth.

Led by Cowan and one, 3-pointer each from Monty Best and Floronta Wynn, Eastern Wayne outscored Beddingfield in the fourth, but never substantially cut into the deficit.

Freshman Reco McCarter added 10 points for the Warriors, all coming in the second half.

Best, D'Adrin Worrell, Landon Downes, Myles Pena and Terrill Boseman played in their final basketball game for Eastern Wayne.

The Bruins travel to face No. 2 Kinston on Wednesday.

In the first half of the girls game, Southern Wayne missed a lot of open chances down low, while Eastern Wayne capitalized on its chances.

The Lady Warriors went up 11-2 in the first 3:30 of play and never trailed in the first half. Seven different Eastern Wayne players scored before intermission, while just four Southern Wayne players scored field goals as the Lady Saints managed just two points in the final five minutes of the half.

Trailing 23-17, freshman Lynnesha Leonard, who finished with 13 points, knocked down a 3-pointer on Southern Wayne's first possession to give her team some much-needed momentum out of intermission.

Eastern Wayne, using a "five-in, five-out" substitution scheme, maintained the lead for most of the third period, before Leonard converted a turnover into an easy basket on the other end to give the Lady Saints a 31-30 advantage after three.

The lead changed hands several times in the early going of the fourth, but eventually, Southern Wayne's pressure defense and the Lady Warriors' inability to make a handful of easy baskets proved too much for Eastern Wayne to overcome.

"I was proud of our defensive play. We struggled offensively, but we came out strong defensively ... got some steals and turnovers and we were able to convert some buckets," Combs said.

Ebony Darden and Kiera Ingram finished with eight points each for Southern Wayne.

LaNiece Sims played in her final basketball game for Eastern Wayne.

2006 Class 3-A

Eastern Carolina Conference Tournament

Quarterfinals

(at E.T. Beddingfield HS, Wilson)

Girls game

Eastern Wayne 13 10 9 8 -- 38

Southern Wayne 10 6 15 16 -- 47

No. 5 EASTERN WAYNE (3-21)

Yasmine Washington 4 2 0-0 14, Sherrelle Burt 2 1 0-2 7, LeLe Moore 1 1 0-0 5, Noelle Kelly 2 0 0-0 4, Jasmine McLamb 2 0 0-0 4, LaNiece Sims 2 0 0-1 4, Jasmine Middleton 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 12 4 0-3 38.

No. 4 SOUTHERN WAYNE (7-13)

Shakoria Clark 7 0 0-0 14, Lynnesha Leonard 3 1 4-4 13, Ebony Darden 4 0 0-0 8, Kiera Ingram 3 0 2-4 8, Zekia Jones 2 0 0-0 4. TOTALS -- 19 1 6-8 47.

3-point goals -- EW 4 (Washington 2, Burt, Moore), SW 1 (Leonard). Turnovers -- EW 25, SW 19. Total fouls -- EW 9, SW 10. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.

Boys game

Eastern Wayne 16 9 18 25 -- 68

Beddingfield 21 26 20 18 -- 85

No.6 EASTERN WAYNE (9-15)

Darryl Cowan 5 3 2-2 21, Reco McCarter 5 0 0-0 10, Lamar Davis 3 1 0-0 9, Jason O'Neal 3 0 1-2 7, Landon Downes 1 1 1-2 6, Floronta Wynn 1 1 1-1 6, Monty Best 1 1 0-0 5, D'Adrin Worrell 2 0 0-0 4. TOTALS -- 21 7 5-7 68.

No. 3 BEDDINGFIELD (11-13)

Sabbion Locus 8 0 2-2 18, Alfred Artis 7 0 2-2 16, Mike Anderson 5 2 0-0 16, Brian McNair 4 0 0-0 8, Dustin Murray 2 0 2-2 6, Doniq Eddie 2 0 2-2 6, Brian Richardson 0 1 0-0 3, Travis Peaden 1 0 0-0 2, Dante Finch 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 34 3 8-9 85.

3-point goals -- EW 7 (Cowan 3, Davis, Downes, Wynn, Best), WB 3 (Anderson 2, Richardson). Turnovers -- WB 16, EW 11. Total fouls -- WB 9, EW 11. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- Locus (WB), Downes (EW).