C.B. Aycock takes down Triton girls
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 10, 2011 11:23 PM
PIKEVILLE -- Two one-possession outcomes allowed Charles B. Aycock to sweep Triton in regular-season play a year ago.
The Hawks gained revenge, winning the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference tournament crown on the Golden Falcons' homecourt.
A nail-biter this time?
Not hardly.
Aycock used a dominating first-half scoring spurt as the springboard to a 39-17 thrashing of Triton in the ECC opener for both teams Friday evening.
"We battle with Triton all the time and I'm estactic," said Golden Falcons head coach Laura Romo. "I thought our kids played consistent tonight because we're older. We do have some youth, but I've got some seasoned seniors that I'm happy with them starting to take a leadership role."
Freshman Myleah Jones emerged the Golden Falcons' leader with a double-double -- 15 points, 10 rebounds. Senior post player Ivy Hartzell contributed 14 points, seven rebounds, three steals and one assist.
Senior point guard Courtnei Gilbert dished out a game-high six assists, picked the Hawks for five steals and crashed the boards for four rebounds. Imari Howell logged 10 rebounds, three assists, four steals and one blocked shot.
The Golden Falcons hit 14 of their 17 field goals in the paint, and had 13 assists as a team.
"Our post play (was pleasing)," said Romo. "We started to put a couple of moves together and we've been working on that. Ivy played very well and did the same thing for us against Goldsboro, has put two games together where she's hitting her outside shot and putting a nice little turnaround (shot) in (the basket).
"Myleah is really starting to put it together. I was happy with our post play, and our guards finding our posts. They're starting to get more confidence in the post (players) because they're starting to put the shots down."
Triton (2-6 overall, 0-1 ECC) grabbed a 3-0 lead on Jasmine Dixon's traditional three-point play. Aycock, behind the inside presence of Hartzell and Jones, went on an 18-0 run and led 22-5 at halftime.
The Hawks managed just two goals in the first 16 minutes of play and converted just three shots from the floor in a 21 1/2-minute stretch. Triton knocked down eight field goals for the game and was limited to single-digit scoring in each quarter.
Gilbert passed out five third-quarter assists, including four to Jones, who shot 4 of 6 from the floor in the third period. Howell tallied her lone field goal during that span.