Eagles eliminate Phoenix from opening round

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on February 28, 2015 11:11 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

At least David had a slingshot.

And Goliath was no Lexi Mercer.

With their foes slingshot-less and without a prayer, Rosewood decimated Raleigh Charter 61-20 in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A women's basketball playoffs Saturday afternoon.

"They played with a lot of energy just like they always do, they never not play with energy and they never don't have fun," Eagles coach Rick Grantham said. "I just told them to make sure they go have fun and not worry about the outcome because 20 years from now they're not going to remember the outcome of the game, they are going to remember the experiences."

The Eagles' pressure defense set the tone early.

Raleigh Charter never got the ball past midcourt until there were five minutes left in a quarter in which the Eagles scored 31 points. Mercer found a groove early by scoring 12 of those points, followed by Krystal Yelverton's nine.

Yelverton finished with a game-high 19 points, five assists and three steals.

"Once I got it in my head that I could score against them I just stayed aggressive and took the ball to the basket and was able to score," Yelverton said.

Mercer was on pace for a triple-double before heading to the bench with four minutes left in the third quarter. She finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

The Eagles may have spent the day in school, but they made it look like just another casual Saturday afternoon. It was all about having fun for them.

After coming out of the locker room at halftime with a 30-point lead, the Eagles took their seats on the bench with seven minutes remaining in the break and no one bothered shooting warm-up shots.

They were plenty warm after their high-scoring first half.

With the way defense played, the Eagles didn't even need to make a shot the rest of the game anyway. They forced more turnovers (29) than they gave up points (20).

"We love to play defense against a team like this because we do a really good job getting our hands on the ball and stealing it from them," Rosewood's Callie Thornton said.

And despite no shots being taken at halftime, they came out firing on all cylinders. Led by Yelverton's six straight points, the Eagles started the second half on a 12-0 run and gave up just two points in the third quarter.

Rosewood's starters spent the rest of the game cheering on the reserves as they rest up for what is sure to be a busy week ahead if they continue to win.

This win was much different than the last time the Eagles took the court. Last Friday, Mercer and Thornton were clutching trash cans while they dealt with a virus. Yelverton was overheating and dealing with bad calf cramps.

Saturday, those once-green faces were replaced with bright smiles, and debilitating calf cramps with transition layups.

But if you ask Thornton, she would have rather been throwing up.

"I don't like the games where we win by a lot of points and play the teams that aren't as good," Thornton said. "Even though we were sick that was a really hard fought game for us (last week)."