Aycock completes season sweep of Warriors

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 6, 2007 2:16 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Despite a late fourth-quarter scoring drought, Charles B. Aycock escaped county rival Eastern Wayne 65-62 on the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference women's basketball scene Monday evening.

Senior Erin Medford supplied a game- and career-high 22 points for the Golden Falcons (9-13 overall), who improved to 4-5 in ECC play and seized their second consecutive regular-season sweep of the Warriors. Medford drained five 3-pointers for the Golden Falcons, who had three players to score in double figures in the same game this season. Jazzmine Lee and Chantel Gaines provided 12 points apiece for Aycock, now 5-0 against county foes this season.

Eastern Wayne (8-11, 5-4) suffered its second straight defeat in league action.

"I thought the girls competed well tonight in the second half," said Warriors head coach Brent Holland. "The first half, I don't know if it was because of Aycock or not why we can't come out, and come off to a better start than we do.

"I'm disappointed we didn't put two halves together. I don't know if it's me if there are buttons I'm not pushing."

C.B. Aycock claimed an eight-point lead in the early stages of the first quarter and kept that advantage throughout the opening half. The Golden Falcons worked the ball well against the Warriors' zone defense and used skip passes to get Medford open looks behind the 3-point arc.

Lee drained a pair of buzzer-beating 3-pointers at the end of each period, which helped Aycock take a 30-23 halftime lead.

Eastern Wayne grabbed command once third-quarter play began. The Warriors forced a few turnovers off their pressure defense and freshman Danielle Daniels ignited an 11-4 run with a 3-pointer -- her third of the evening. Junior forward Brittani Billups capped the game-tying spurt with two free throws.

The teams were deadlocked at 34-34 nearly halfway through the period.

"We confused them a little bit on our halfcourt trap and the girls did a great job to tie the game," said Holland.

Bridgette Briggs' free throw started an 8-0 run for the Golden Falcons. Jasmine Dobbin converted a conventional three-point play and Briggs scored underneath on Medford's assist. Yolanda Pitt finished off the surge with two free throws after picking the Warriors for a steal.

The Warriors pulled within 42-38, but didn't keep a watchful eye on either Medford or Lee. The duo combined for three consecutive 3-pointers to stretch Aycock's lead to 51-43 after three periods.

"We executed like we needed to do," Aycock head coach Carrie Reynell said of the late run.

Eastern Wayne wasn't done.

The Warriors fell behind by double digits early in the final period, but regained their poise through their pressure defense and domination on the offensive glass. Billups and Yasmine Washington combined for six second-chance points, and Billups knocked down an 8-foot jumper to close the gap to 60-57.

Pratt got loose underneath for a back-door layup off Dobbin's assist to make it 62-57. That would be the Golden Falcons' lone basket for five-plus minutes.

"We had a tough time handling pressure," said Reynell. "Sometimes we'd get a little too excited, play the other team and ourselves, instead of concentrating on breaking the press. We didn't get the past the 10-foot line there for the last few minutes.

"They did a good job of pressuring us."

The Warriors' Tiara McIntyre sank two free throws and Eboni Reid converted an open-court layup to force a 62-62 tie with 59 seconds left in regulation. Aycock misfired on its next possession, but the Warriors committed an agonizing turnover with 13.3 ticks on the clock.

Medford tied up Washington to force a jump ball, which gave the ball back to the Golden Falcons.

"(The play) was cleared out for Brittani and we get tied up," said Holland. "She was wide open and we didn't get the ball to her on the last play of the game."

Lee hit the front end of a two-shot foul with 6.3 seconds to go. The second free throw clanged off the iron and Billups tied up Briggs on the rebound. Briggs wrestled the ball away from Billups and passed to Gaines, who canned the jumper as time expired.

Billups and Washington each delivered double-doubles for the Warriors. Billups scored 24 points and pulled down 10 boards, while Washington had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

The men's contest featured a competitive first quarter before the Warriors used a 35-14 run to put away the winless Golden Falcons. Jenieri Cyrus led three Eastern Wayne players in double figures with 12 points, while Lamar Davis and Darius Wilder added 11 and 10 points apiece, respectively, in the 67-32 victory.

Eastern Wayne (4-5 ECC) toiled through a shaky first quarter that included careless turnovers and numerous missed shots underneath the basket. The Warriors led 13-11 after eight minutes of action, but eventually pulled away for just their sixth victory of the season in 19 outings.

"They played good defense and we could not make a basket, but we kept shooting," said Eastern Wayne head coach Marvin Bowman. "I was real pleased with the way our guys turned it up a notch in the second quarter and we just executed our offense much better."

C.B. Aycock (0-23, 0-9 ECC) avoided costly turnovers in the opening half, but couldn't keep the neck-and-neck pace on the offensive end of the court. The Golden Falcons converted just six field goals during a 20-minute stretch and saw their slim seven-point halftime deficit balloon to 23 points after three quarters.

"I thought we played very well in the first half and limited our turnovers," said Aycock head coach David West. "We were unselfish with the basketball. In the second half, we forgot to come out of the locker room.

"We didn't play the second half at all."

Eastern Wayne hit 19 of its 29 field goals in the second half.

Jon Williams emerged the Golden Falcons' top scorer with 11 points.

Girls game

Eastern Wayne 9 14 20 19 -- 62

C.B. Aycock 15 15 21 14 -- 65

EASTERN WAYNE (8-11, 5-4)

Tia Jones 0 0 1-2 1, Noelle Kelly 1 0 0-2 2, Lindsey Frederick 1 0 0-0 2, Yasmine Washington 6 0 4-6 16, Eboni Reid 2 0 0-1 4, Tiara McIntyre 0 0 4-8 4, Danielle Daniels 0 3 0-0 9, Brittani Billups 8 0 8-9 24. TOTALS -- 18 3 17-28 62.

C.B. AYCOCK (9-13, 4-5)

Jasmine Dobbin 1 0 4-7 6, Yolanda Pitt 0 0 2-2 2, Jazzmine Lee 1 3 1-2 12, Chantel Gaines 5 0 2-4 12, Erin Medford 3 5 1-3 22, Bridgette Briggs 3 0 3-6 9, Lauren Pratt 1 0 0-0 2, Briana Reid 0 0 0-0 0. TOTALS -- 14 8 13-24 65.

Boys game

Eastern Wayne 13 12 23 19 -- 67

C.B. Aycock 11 7 7 7 -- 32

EASTERN WAYNE (6-13, 4-5)

Lamar Davis 4 1 0-1 11, D.J. Cowan 1 1 1-2 6, Daviyon Whisenhunt 1 0 0-0 2, Jenieri Cyrus 3 1 3-5 12, Darren Bennett 3 0 1-2 7, Darian Cahill 0 0 1-2 1, Darius Wilder 5 0 0-1 10, Will White 4 0 0-0 8, Jemere Thomas 3 0 0-0 6, Orlando Midgette 2 0 0-2 4. TOTALS -- 26 3 6-16 67.

C.B. AYCOCK (0-23, 0-9)

David Gurganus 3 0 0-0 6, Alex Peacock 0 0 0-2 0, Quantay Poole 0 0 1-2 1, Devon Newsome 0 0 0-2 0, Jon Williams 5 0 1-2 11, Evan Medford 0 1 0-0 3, Daniel Pennington 1 0 0-0 2, Kendre Reid 1 0 2-3 4, Jacob Pendleton 1 0 0-0 2, Jordan Riley 1 0 1-2 3. TOTALS -- 12 1 5-13 32.