Carolina 1-A girls first round
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on February 14, 2012 1:48 PM
Messenger Sports Writer
Both of the higher seeds advanced and both lower seeds saw their season come to an end.
Fourth-seeded Ayden-Grifton rolled past fifth-seeded North Duplin 50-18 in the opening game of the Carolina 1-A Conference girls' basketball tournament Monday night.
Third-seeded Rosewood, the tournament host, defeated sixth-seeded Spring Creek, 73-32, in the nightcap. The Eagles play archrival Princeton on Wednesday. The teams split a pair of regular-season meetings.
"I think we have confidence that we can get a win," Rosewood head coach Ryan Wells said. "Obviously, Princeton is a senior-led team and they are going to come out with intensity, so we need to play well from the opening tip."
The Eagles did exactly that on Monday.
Rosewood caught fire early on the offensive end and raced out to a 26-8 lead after one quarter. The home team poured on the points in the second period and led 42-19 at halftime.
Both teams found plenty of time for their respective reserve players in the second half.
Alicia Burns paced Rosewood (8-14 overall) with 24 points. Holly Heath added nine points, while teammates Elise McSwain and Melisse Carter each tallied eight points.
"Alicia and Holly have kind of taken over that scoring role for us," Wells said. "Tonight they got their points early and the rest of the team got a chance to get minutes and score as well."
Alyssa Borja paced Spring Creek (0-21 overall) with 15 points. Jana Price added seven points in the defeat.
Ayden-Grifton got the best of North Duplin in game one.
The Chargers, who face Goldsboro on Wednesday, grabbed a 17-0 lead over the first six minutes of action. By halftime the Ayden-Grifton lead swelled to 31-9. Destiny Dixon led the Chargers with 10 points and five rebounds. Jordan Ennis added eight points.
Ansley Hill, Leigh Taylor and Belle Scritchfield each scored four points for the Rebels, who finished 5-15 overall.
"I thought last week when we played Goldsboro it was the best they have ever played against us," said Ayden-Grifton head coach Jeff Dufour said. "We are going to have to try some new things because with their size they can present matchup problems for us in the paint."