Warriors' man-to-man pressure drowns Knights

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on February 28, 2013 1:47 PM

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Eastern Wayne started slowly and Currituck hung around in the first half.

The Warriors sped the game up in the second half and put the Knights away en route to a 74-42 victory in the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A girls' basketball playoffs Wednesday evening.

Eastern Wayne entertains archrival Charles B. Aycock on Friday night.

"We talked before the game about our slow start against Currituck last year," Eastern Wayne head coach Tyrone Wagner said. "Unfortunately, we did the same thing tonight. To their credit, Currituck did a good job against our zone press in the first quarter."

Eastern Wayne jumped ahead 8-1 in the opening four minutes, but failed to put the visitors away. Currituck battled back by scoring the final six points of the opening quarter and pulled to within 12-9.

The Warriors increased the lead to 31-19 at halftime only to see the Knights rally again in the third quarter. Amanda Gerni sank a jump shot and Kayla Powell followed with a putback that pulled the visitors to within eight points with five minutes left in the period.

Wagner switched to a man-to-man press and picked up the pace of play. The Warriors closed the third quarter on an 18-4 run and led 52-31.

"Our depth is key for us and it was big factor tonight," Wagner said. "We were able to use our bench and I think we wore our opponent down in the second half."

Eastern Wayne rotated players throughout a choppy fourth quarter that featured 15 personal fouls, 14 turnovers and five jump balls.

Elondia Grant paced Eastern Wayne with 14 points and four rebounds. Rajuana Boyette added nine points. Megan Mozingo and Shontell Monk each added eight points.

Gerni led Currituck with 17 points. Kayla Powell added a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Kaitlyn Newbern tallied seven points.