Rosewood girls dominate Trask in 1A playoffs

By Kenneth Fine
Published in Sports on February 25, 2014 1:48 PM

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kfine@newsargus.com

Rosewood's Lexi Mercer single-handedly outscored Heide Trask in the first quarter, and three of her teammates posted double figures in an opening-round, 71-31 victory in the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A playoffs.

Mercer turned in a double-double -- 19 points, 10 rebounds -- for the second-seeded Eagles, who entertain seventh-seeded James Kenan Wednesday. Tip-off is 7 p.m.

Alicia Burns contributed 15 points for Rosewood, which extended its win streak to 18 games. Krystal Yelverton added 14 points and dished out five assists, while Deziree Baker pulled down eight rebounds to go with her 13 points.

Rosewood head coach Rick Grantham characterized it as "impressive team effort."

"I'm extremely proud. What we've talked about from the very beginning is, 'It's not who you play. It's how you play,'" he said. "You establish a pattern and an effort level ... and you try to get to that level every night. Tonight, we got a tremendous effort."

The Eagles' full-court press forced the Titans into turnover after turnover, and led to a 23-point lead after the first quarter -- a frame during which Mercer and Burns each had near-perfect shooting performances.

"If we have an open shot, our team trusts us to take it," Mercer said. "Even if our shots aren't falling, they keep encouraging us to shoot. We don't ever stop shooting."

And that philosophy, one that has been preached since day one by their coach, is what Grantham believes could carry his squad all the way to a state title.

"Our thing is volume of shots," Grantham said. "They'll go in sooner or later."

Unfortunately for the Lady Titans, the few shots they put up didn't fall.

Five Trask players scored and just two posted more than two points. Shawntia Green recorded a double-double -- 17 points and 10 rebounds, but her effort was not enough to keep the Lady Eagles from advancing, in blowout fashion, to the next round.

Mercer said that once the game was in hand, she and her teammates used the remaining minutes to "get back into our groove."

Burns said she hopes they can carry that momentum with them all the way to a championship.

"I think if we distribute the ball and keep playing like we are, we're gonna go far," she said. "We're so ready. That was all we could talk about today before the game. We're so ready to go as far as we can go.

"We're chasing that ring."