Warriors roll past Kinston

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 17, 2009 1:46 PM

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Jazmine Middleton picked an opportune time to maximize her potential.

Middleton scored a career-high 29 points, including 20 in the first half, to help Eastern Wayne to a 53-40 win over visiting Kinston in the first round of the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference girls' basketball tournament on Monday evening.

The Warriors (9-13 overall) watched a 15-point halftime lead shrink to six early in the fourth quarter. Middleton scored seven points during a pivotal 15-8 run to close the ballgame.

"Jazmine was in the zone," said Eastern Wayne head coach Brent Holland. "That was unexpected. I know she's capable of it. I'm just so happy for Jazmine because has worked hard and it showed tonight.

"I've seen it for three years and she practices hard and I ride her pretty hard but I've always told her, 'coaches don't lose their voices on people that can't play.'"

Kinston committed 19 first-half turnovers and trailed 31-16 at the half.

"I learned the last time we played them that they didn't do a great job of handling our pressure," said Holland. "I also learned that it was going to be a tough game. We jumped on them early and that got us a little cushion.

"It's tough to come back four days later against the same opponent and get a win."

Tiarra McIntyre contributed eight points for the Warriors and Cookie Wingfield led the Vikings with 16.

Eastern Wayne advanced to face top-seeded Wilson Beddingfield on Wednesday night at Kinston.

"It's going to take a tremendous effort to beat a great Beddingfield team" said Holland. "I just told our girls 'we're the defending tournament champions until we get beat.' We're going to have to play great and they're going to have to play down.

"If you have to practice, you might as well play the next day."