Davis saves Cougar girls with pivotal offensive rebound

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 14, 2015 11:23 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

SNOW HILL -- Haunted by near misses and hard "no calls" underneath the basket, Goldsboro High forward Alexus Davis converted one offensive rebound when it counted the most.

And it saved teammate Lashiya Lofton.

The junior guard aggravated a left-knee injury on a foul near midcourt and winced in pain as she hobbled toward the free throw line with 11.2 seconds to go. The Cougars led 55-53 and a standing-room-only crowd of Greene Central fans became even more louder as she toed the charity stripe.

The first shot bounced off the back of the iron.

Lofton stepped back and got some encouragement from GHS head coach LaTina Bullock. Her second shot missed, but Davis snuck around a Greene Central defender, grabbed the offensive rebound and kissed a shot off the glass with 7.2 seconds to go.

"I had to get it in ... return the favor for my team," said Davis, who wiped the boards for a career-high 20 rebounds and finished with eight points.

The offensive putback lifted Goldsboro a 57-53 victory on the Rouse Foundation Family Court inside the GC gym on Friday evening. It was the Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference regular-season finale for both teams.

"The girls stepped up and contributed in the areas where we needed, rebounding was awesome tonight for us and defense was as well, getting some deflections for fast-break points," said Bullock, whose team owned a decisive 47-30 advantage in rebounds.

Junior Tyona Moses dropped in a game-high 31 points for the Cougars, who improved to 3-2 in ECC road games this season. Amari Thompson provided eight points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Natiana Barnes supplied eight points and four assists.

Wearing a brace on her left knee, Lofton ran the offense in the absence of starting point guard Destini Covington, who missed the game due to disciplinary reasons. Covington watched from the bench in street clothes.

Lofton handed out three assists and pick-pocketed the pesky Rams for two steals.

Goldsboro saw a 26-19 halftime advantage evaporate in the third period. GC point guard Tahliyah Joyner knocked down 14 of her team-best 24 points in the period, and the Rams eventually seized a two-possession lead.

Moses' 3-pointer knotted the contest at 43-all with 5:39 remaining in regulation. Down 47-43, GC pulled to within 47-46 on Khalicia Lee's 3-pointer off of Joyner's assist.

Once again, Moses answered a 3 -- her fifth of the game.

"I expected that from her and like I told her at the beginning of the game, that's what we were going to need from her for us to get this win," Bullock said. "She needed to be a leader on the floor tonight and she did just that."

The Rams closed the gap to 55-53 before Davis' offensive putback sealed the outcome.

"That felt really good," Davis said.