Goldsboro girls win CC tourney
By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on February 18, 2012 11:11 PM
Mission accomplished.
After dominating the regular season a year ago, the Goldsboro High girls' basketball team fell in the conference tournament final to Ayden-Grifton for the second consecutive season.
The Cougars finished the job this year.
Goldsboro used a 10-2 second-quarter run to pull away from Rosewood for a 46-32 victory in the Carolina 1-A Conference tournament final Friday evening.
"We definitely had a bad taste in our mouth from the way this tournament went last year," second year Goldsboro head coach LaTina Bullock said. "Our girls were focused this year and they did what they needed to do to get the job done."
Both teams struggled through a stagnant first quarter that saw the Cougars gain a 7-2 lead. Goldsboro opened up the floor late in the second quarter and extended the advantage to 21-9 at the half.
"We had to make adjustments for sure," Bullock said. "This was the third time that we played Rosewood this year, and it took us some time to see what they were doing and put ourselves in better positions."
The Cougars began the third quarter three consecutive baskets by Kasheika Wallace and appeared to be on the way to a blowout victory.
Unwilling to accept its defeat despite being down 18 points, Rosewood rose to the occasion and played the Cougars even throughout the rest of the period. The Eagles mounted a small comeback in the fourth quarter as they pulled within 12 points in the final minute.
"I know that there is no such thing as a good loss," Rosewood head coach Ryan Wells said. "But I thought our girls gave it everything they had tonight against a much taller and much more experienced team. I can not be too mad when we won six of our last eight to even get to this game, and it took one of the top teams in the state to beat us out."
Alicia Burns led Rosewood with 12 points. KeKe Parks and Hayley Mercer each added six points for the Eagles.
Wallace paced Goldsboro with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Brandy Johnson added 10 points and Alexus Myles had nine.
"You have to give all the credit in the world to coach Bullock and Goldsboro," Wells said. "They do what it takes to win every single night and tonight was no different."