Spring Creek boys collect first Carolina 1-A win of season

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on January 14, 2007 2:21 AM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Spring Creek coach Sonny Kilpatrick feels the best type of game for his team is a helter-skelter, fast-paced contest with balls and players flying all over the court.

Kilpatrick got his wish on Friday night as his Gators knocked off visiting Rosewood 62-55 in Carolina 1-A Conference play.

"It feels good to win this one," said Kilpatrick. "We beat a good team."

Spring Creek was able to dominate the offensive glass, creating plenty of second-chance scoring opportunities.

"We got beat up on the boards, that's the bottom line," said Rosewood coach Daniel Mitchell. "Too many second-chance points."

Those second-chance opportunities enabled Spring Creek to break a 36-36 tie at the end of the third quarter and hold off the Eagles for the win.

"We got a lot of extra shots and, even if we didn't put them down, we were able to get to the line," said Kilpatrick.

The Gators spent a good amount of the evening at the foul line as they attempted 40 shots from the stripe -- making 20.

"We didn't shoot free throws real good, but we shot them good enough to stay in the game," said Kilpatrick.

David Harris led the Gators (3-11, 1-2) with 13 points and six steals -- all coming during the fourth quarter. Josh Wright added 12 points and five rebounds while Desmond Raiford contributed a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

"Desmond is a force in the middle," said Kilpatrick.

Rosewood (3-11, 1-2) was led by Dennis Jones' 11 points and seven rebounds. Holt Rains tallied nine and four rebounds for the Eagles.

Following a evenly played first half where Spring Creek held a slight 29-24 lead, Rosewood was able to tie the game at the of the third quarter following back-to-back threes from Adrian Dahranj and Stephen McIntyre.

In the fourth quarter, Spring Creek used a vicious full-court press that forced four straight turnovers by the Eagles, igniting a 7-0 run to begin the quarter.

"They did a good job of pressuring the ball, and we didn't do a good enough job of handling it," said Mitchell.

The run expanded to 16-4 as the Gators took their largest lead of the night at 52-40 with 3:59 to play, following a steal and layup by Harris that sent the raucous Spring Creek crowd into a frenzy.

"The crowd helps," said Kilpatrick. "That's the best crowd we've had all year."

Rosewood was able to regroup and cut the lead to 59-55 with 32 second to play after a trey from Rains.

Following a miss free throw from Harris, Maurice Langston pulled down another Gators offensive rebound and his putback ended any Rosewood hopes for a comeback.

"That's the story of the night -- not doing a good enough of a job on the boards," said Mitchell.

The Rosewood Lady Eagles shook off a slow start and got a terrific performance from Courtney Hill to beat Spring Creek 65-46.

Hill scorched the nets for a game-high 31 points, grabbed four rebounds, had four steals and three blocks to lead the Eagles.

"Courtney just did an excellent job for us again tonight," said her coach Debbie Bailey. "She really stepped up."

If Hill's monster game wasn't enough, Spring Creek's inability to take care of the basketball caused 39 turnovers. Of the turnovers, 21 came via steals from the Eagle defense.

Shanita Monroe came away with seven steals and scored 10 points for the Eagles (7-7, 2-1).

Tasha Whitfield's double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds off the bench led Spring Creek (2-12, 1-2).

Rosewood began the night unable to get any consistent scoring on the offensive end, while giving up too many easy baskets to Spring Creek.

Whitfield -- who had 10 rebounds by halftime -- had eight points from second chance opportunities as Spring Creek trailed just 23-20 at the break.

"It's like we have this pattern where we start out so bad in the first half and finish strong in the second," said Bailey.

In the second half Hill took over and the Eagles used a full-court press to force nine turnovers during the first 11 Gator possessions to take control of the game.

Hill scored nine straight points as the Eagles opened up a 32-24 lead.

"We ran a lot of press tonight and I think that helped boost us up to get the quick breaks," said Hill.

Those transition opportunities not only equaled easy buckets for Rosewood, but also got Hill to the foul line.

Hill made 13 of her 15 shots from the line, including 10 for 11 in the second half.

"I hadn't been making my free throws lately so I really worked on it last night at practice and it paid off," said Hill.

Spring Creek made one final run at the Eagles, cutting the deficit to just two, 32-30 following a basket from Shaquita Brooks who finished with nine points and nine rebounds.

Rosewood closed the quarter with a 8-0 run to regain a 10 point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The run continued into the fourth as Rosewood would outscore Spring Creek 22-2 over a 5:10 span to build their largest lead of the night at 54-32 and cruised the rest of the way.

"We came out a totally different team in the second half," said Hill. "First half...We'll just forget it."

Boys Game

Rosewood 8 16 12 19 -- 55

Spring Creek 13 16 7 26 -- 62

ROSEWOOD (3-11, 1-2)

Dennis Jones 2 0 7-8 11, Holt Rains 1 1 4-6 9, Taylor Allen 1 1 2-2 7, Josh Myers 2 1 0-0 7, Joey Boyette 3 0 0-0 6, Stephen McIntyre 1 1 1-2 6, Adrian Dahranj 1 1 0-0 5, Sean Corman 1 0 2-3 4. TOTALS -- 12 5 16-21 55.

SPRING CREEK (3-11, 1-2)

David Harris 3 0 7-13 13, Josh Wright 5 0 2-2 12, Desmond Raiford 4 0 4-10 12, Maurice Langston 2 4-8 8, Emmanuel Hinton 3 0 2-4 8, Kevin Winn 0 2 0-0 6, Terrance Johnson 1 0 1-1 3. TOTALS -- 18 2 20-40 62.

Girls Game

Rosewood 13 10 17 25 -- 65

Spring Creek 9 11 10 16 -- 46

ROSEWOOD (7-7, 2-1)

Courtney Hill 6 2 13-15 31, Shanita Monroe 3 0 4-4 10, Kasie Braswell 4 0 0-0 8, Haile Meadows 3 0 0-0 6, Mary Moore 2 0 0-0 4, Shantal Johnston 1 0 1-2 3, Karli Beasley 1 0 0-4 2, Ashley Williams 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS -- 20 2 19-27 65.

SPRING CREEK (2-12, 1-2)

Tasha Whitfield 5 0 4-8 14, Maura Phipps 4 0 1-5 9, Shaquita Brooks 4 0 1-6 9, Norma Valentin 4 0 0-2 8, Melanique DeVeaux 2 0 0-0 4, Errica Evans 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 20 0 6-20 46.