Eastern Wayne girls dismantle Hunt

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 20, 2008 12:40 PM

• Print
• Email

His tie loosened and small sweat stains creeping from underneath his shirt, Eastern Wayne women's basketball coach Brent Holland displayed mixed emotions Friday evening.

He applauded the team's overall effort in a 63-33 shellacking of Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference foe Wilson Hunt. But, in turn, he expressed discontent over some players' attitudes with the Warriors' biggest opponent -- No. 1-ranked Wilson Beddingfield -- visiting New Hope on Tuesday.

"We're getting to a point in the season where we all need to be on the same page and we need to start clicking," said Holland. "We're talking about ourselves being (ECC) contenders, but we're acting like pretenders.

"I'm not disappointed with the effort. I thought the girls played hard."

Despite sitting the first quarter, senior forward Brittani Billups posted a triple-double with 16 points, 11 blocked shots and 12 rebounds for the host Warriors. Eastern Wayne improved to 12-2 overall and joined Beddingfield atop the ECC at 2-0.

Meanwhile, Hunt's boys used a 10-0 third-quarter run to deny Eastern Wayne its first ECC win of the season. Point guard Bobby White supplied a game-high 22 points as the visiting Warriors triumphed 63-55.

Holland's squad misfired on 10 of its first 12 field-goal attempts and missed five consecutive layups underneath the basket in the opening quarter. But once Eastern Wayne found its offensive rhythm, Hunt couldn't keep the pace.

The host Warriors easily solved their opponents' full-court pressure, which led to easy transition baskets. Sophomore Daniel Daniel converted three consecutive buckets -- all off Eboni Reid assists -- as Eastern Wayne built a 17-10 lead after one quarter.

Billups and Tiara McIntyre (game-high 17 points) handled the offensive duties in the second period. Meanwhile, Hunt yielded an 18-0 run and found itself trailing 33-15 at halftime.

Eastern Wayne limited the visiting Warriors to one field during a 10-minute stretch in the second half and easily claimed its sixth home win of the season.

Holland's team converted 28 of 60 field goals and had 19 assists as a team. Eboni Reid dished out eight assists, while McIntyre and Daniel handed out four and three, respectively.

"They distributed the ball well," said Holland.

Eastern Wayne's boys trailed 23-19 at halftime, but couldn't answer Hunt's intensity to start the second half. White reeled off three consecutive baskets -- a 3-pointer and back-to-back layups off steals -- to give the visiting Warriors a 30-19 cushion.

Cody Kirkham's layup off Daviyon Whisonant's assist trimmed the deficit to 33-23. Hunt grabbed its biggest lead, 40-23, with less than two minutes remaining.

"I think the third quarter was probably the deciding quarter," said Bowman. "The third quarter, even though we made adjustments, we turned it over at least four times that I can remember ... unforced errors."

Hunt (11-4, 1-1 ECC) kept a double-digit advantage throughout the final eight minutes of play. Eastern Wayne shaved the margin to single digits by aggressively attacking the basket and drawing fouls. Bowman's team sank five free throws in the final 60-plus seconds and finished 14 of 20 overall at the stripe.

Jamere Thomas paced the Warriors with 12 points. Whisonant added 11, while Kirkham and Colton Butler (six blocks) contributed nine points apiece.

Will White, who suffered a concussion against Southern Wayne seven days ago, did not play.

"I see our guys growing from this game and getting better," said Bowman. "We'll see what happens down the road."

Girls game

Wilson Hunt 10 5 4 14 -- 33

Eastern Wayne 17 16 15 15 -- 63

WILSON HUNT (4-11, 0-2)

Morgan Ballance 0 0 0-0 0, Victoria White 1 0 3-8 5, Brianna Britt 2 0 0-0 4, Quilla Parker 4 0 0-2 8, Amber Parrish 0 0 0-0 0, Bailey Werline 4 0 0-5 8, Crystal Artis 2 0 0-1 4, Pebbles Taylor 1 0 0-0 2, Keyana Love 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 15 0 3-16 33.

EASTERN WAYNE (12-2, 2-0)

Lindsey Frederick 1 1 0-0 5, Noelle Kelly 1 0 0-0 2, Brittany Franklin 1 0 0-0 2, Jasmine Middleton 1 0 0-0 2, Tiara McIntyre 5 2 1-3 17, Eboni Reid 2 0 0-1 4, Tia Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Daniel Daniel 4 2 0-0 14, Brittani Billups 8 0 0-2 16, Shante Boseman 0 0 1-2 1. TOTALS -- 23 5 2-8 63.

Boys game

Wilson Hunt 13 10 19 21 -- 63

Eastern Wayne 11 8 10 26 -- 55

WILSON HUNT (11-4, 1-1)

Jamil Creech 3 0 2-2 8, Bobby White 7 2 2-2 22, Jeremy Jeffers 2 0 0-0 4, Stephen Pitt 0 0 1-2 1, Anijhian Harrison 5 0 3-6 13, Jordan White 1 1 1-2 6, Torez Jones 0 0 2-2 2, Rakeen West 0 1 0-0 3, Calvin Carter 0 0 4-4 4. TOTALS -- 18 4 15-20 63.

EASTERN WAYNE (4-10, 0-2)

Jamere Thomas 2 1 5-7 12, Daviyon Whisonant 4 1 0-0 11, Cody Kirkham 3 1 0-0 9, Marvin Bowman 1 0 1-2 3, Colton Butler 4 0 1-1 9, Hassan Best 1 0 3-5 5, Orlando Midgett 0 0 2-2 2, Marquis Tinsley 1 0 2-2 4. TOTALS -- 16 3 14-20 55.