No. 6-ranked, unbeaten Warriors survive OT scare

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on February 7, 2015 11:35 PM

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cellis@newsargus.com

Jasmine Covington's night hadn't gone according to plan.

The guard, usually one of Eastern Wayne's primary scoring options, had only five points through 311/2 minutes of play -- one of the many reasons why the Warriors were down two points with less than 10 seconds left in regulation against D.H. Conley.

With time for one more shot, Covington took it up the floor, threw up a game-winning three and missed the mark. Conley players began to storm the court, thinking they had upset the previously-unbeaten and state-ranked Warriors.

But they didn't hear the ref blow the whistle.

Covington drew a foul and needed two free throws to tie the game, three to win. She hit the first one, missed the second one and took a deep breath.

Swish.

This time, the Warriors rushed the court to hug their teammate.

Covington scored seven points in overtime and finished with 12 overall as Eastern Wayne dumped Conley, 64-53, and earned the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference regular-season title outright. The Warriors have homecourt advantage throughout the ECC tournament.

Megan Mozingo and Naheria Hamilton each scored 14 points.

"I was nervous, I was scared that I was going to blow it," Covington said. "I didn't have a lot of confidence until my team said 'Jasmine, calm down. You've got this.'

"(When I hit the third free throw) I was like, it's game time. It's destiny. Someone doesn't want us to lose."

D.H. Conley built a 20-10 lead after one quarter and held a seven-point advantage at halftime. The Warriors played inspired defense in the third quarter and held the Vikings to just two points.

"I tell my kids that every time someone comes out and shoots the ball, we've just got to get back on defense," head coach Phil Gray said. "We've got to come out and play our game. We had to come out and pick up the intensity.

"You can be 20-1 after tonight or 21-0. You've got to dig deep inside your heart and find what you want to do."

Teshanna Phillips had a team high 18 points for Conley. The guard started the game on fire, hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter and notching 13 by half time. Phillips disappeared in the Warriors' box-and-1 defense in the second half.

Madison Maloney had 12 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter and overtime session combined.

"Every game, the opponent is going to play us harder," Gray said. "The competition is going to pick up. We're in a tough conference. Whenever you go out and play against tough competition, you expect that."