Rosewood girls earn share of Carolina 1-A regular-season title

By Rob Craig
Published in Sports on February 11, 2007 2:09 AM

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Courtney Hill had this game circled on her calender months ago. Senior night versus Princeton at "The Nest" in Rosewood.

It was only fitting then that two seniors, Hill and Kasie Braswell, would lead the Eagles to a 54-42 victory -- and another conference title -- in front of a capacity crowd Friday night.

Braswell scored a team-high 17 points and Hill chipped in with 14 points, nine rebounds, six steals and three blocks for Rosewood.

"That's all I wanted to do this year was to beat Princeton at home on senior night," an excited Hill said at the end of the game.

Hill and her teammates' excitement grew just minutes following the game when they learned North Johnston had lost to Ayden-Grifton. That meant the Eagles would share the regular season Carolina 1-A championship with the Panthers by virtue of their 8-2 mark in conference play.

"Oh my gosh ... awesome!" Hill exclaimed when heard the good news.

Rosewood coach Debbie Bailey has seen her confidence in her girls grow over the past few games and expected a happy ending.

"I don't think the girls could've left the gym tonight without a win," said Bailey. "It was in their heart tonight."

Things didn't look so bright for Rosewood early on as Princeton tried its best to play the role of spoiler.

The Bulldogs led 22-20 at halftime thanks to a defense which forced 13 first-half turnovers.

"So much was going on today with senior day," Bailey said. "I think that emotions played a part in (the slow start). I think after they got started and figured out what they needed to do, they got the job done."

The Eagles grabbed the lead for good at 30-28 when Hill hit two foul shots with 1:34 to go in the third quarter. After that, Braswell and the full-court press of Rosewood finished off the Bulldogs.

The Rosewood defensive pressure forced 40 Princeton turnovers, half of which came during the second half.

"We knew they were quick on the press so we just matched up man-to-man on the press and it worked," said Hill. "That really helped us."

Offensively, Braswell helped finish off the Bulldogs by scoring 13 of her points during the fourth quarter.

"Kasie stepped up and did a good job tonight," Hill said. "She took the ball to the hole a lot."

Rosewood finishes the regular season 13-8 overall and will get a bye to the second round of the Carolina Conference Tournament where they will play at Mount Olive on Thursday against a to be determined foe.

Princeton (13-11, 4-6) was led by C.C. Sanders, who tallied a game-high 20 points. Cinnthia Peedin scored nine points to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds while Stephanie Daughtry added two points and 11 rebounds.

The Princeton boys didn't get caught up in the emotion of senior night and handed Rosewood a 50-40 loss.

"To beat them on senior night, our archrival when they have a playoff berth on the line was huge," said Princeton coach Jeff Davis.

The Bulldogs won the game without big contributions from their two biggest offensive weapons -- Ryan Daughtry and Daniel Gerrell -- who were held to 11 and one point, respectively.

"They did a great job on Ryan and Daniel defensively," said Davis.

Stepping up in their place was Josh Holmes and Josh Barefoot.

Holmes scored 20 points with six rebounds and Barefoot added 15 points by shooting 11 of 12 from the foul line while pulling down 12 rebounds.

"Holmes can score," said Davis. "He and Barefoot both did a good job rebounding tonight. Barefoot plays well against Rosewood. I don't know why that is -- maybe he's challenged by their big guys and knows he needs to play well."

Rosewood was led by Stephen McIntyre's 13 points and Dennis Jones' seven points and 10 rebounds.

The game began with both teams playing stingy defense and poor shooting as the score was tied at 6-6 following the first quarter.

"We had a hard time making baskets tonight," Rosewood coach Daniel Mitchell said. "I thought we defended well on the perimeter, but gave up too many points in the paint."

Princeton began scoring on the inside and racking up fouls on the Eagle players in the second quarter to go up 20-15 at the half.

In the third quarter, Rosewood got to within 20-19 after Jones made one-of-two from the line. Princeton answered with a 14-4 run to grab a 34-23 lead on Daughtry's conventional three-point-play.

Rosewood cut the deficit to 43-35 in the fourth quarter after McIntyre drained one of his three 3-pointers.

Princeton was able hold on down the stretch thanks to the inside play of Holmes.

"Holmes moved real well without the ball and they found him when he was open," Mitchell said. "It was just good execution by Princeton."

Princeton improved to 15-9 (6-4) with the victory.

The loss proved to be a costly one for Rosewood (5-16, 3-7), which missed out on a chance to compete in the state playoffs.

"We knew it was a game we really needed to win," said Mitchell.

The Eagles will next play at North Duplin on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the first round of the Carolina Conference Tournament.

Girls game

Princeton 10 12 7 13 -- 42

Rosewood 8 12 12 22 -- 54

PRINCETON (13-11, 4-6)

C.C. Sanders 13 0 4-6 20, Cinnthia Peedin 4 0 1-6 9, Brittany Baker 3 0 0-6 6, Stephanie Daughtry 1 0 0-0 2, Tiesha Williams 1 0 0-0 2, Ashley Braswell 1 0 0-0 2, Jill Whitley 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS -- 18 6-14 42.

ROSEWOOD (13-8, 8-2)

Kasie Braswell 7 0 3-8 17, Courtney Hill 4 0 6-8 14, Miesha Chester 2 1 0-2 7, Shanita Monroe 0 1 3-6 6, Ashley Williams 2 0 0-0 4, Haile Meadows 0 1 0-0 3, Shantal Johnson 1 0 0-0 2, Karli Beasley 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS -- 16 3 13-26 54.

Boys game

Princeton 6 14 14 16 -- 50

Rosewood 6 9 10 15 -- 40

PRINCETON (15-9, 6-4)

Josh Holmes 6 1 5-8 20, Josh Barefoot 2 0 11-12 15, Ryan Daughtry 2 1 4-10 11, Adam Nethercutt 1 0 0-2 2, Daniel Gerrell 0 0 1-2 1, Andrew Cobb 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS -- 11 2 22-36 50.

ROSEWOOD (5-16, 3-7)

Stephen McIntyre 2 3 0-0 13, Dennis Jones 1 0 5-10 7, Joey Boyette 3 0 0-2 6, Holt Rains 2 0 0-2 4, Taylor Allen 0 1 0-0 3, Adrian Dahranj 0 1 0-0 3, Tyler Muntz 1 0 0-0 2, Josh Myers 1 0 0-0 2, Wayne Hammonds 0 0 0-1 0. TOTALS -- 10 5 5-15 40.