No. 6-ranked Eastern Wayne girls oust C.B. Aycock

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on March 3, 2015 1:48 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

After squeaking out victories in the first two games against their archrival Charles B. Aycock, Jasmine Covington and Eastern Wayne wanted to leave no doubt this time.

A team that has become a slow starter late this season, Covington came out and scorched the nets for eight points in the first three minutes to propel the unbeaten Warriors to a 74-56 victory over the Golden Falcons in the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A state playoffs.

Covington finished the game with 17 points and 19 rebounds.

Eastern Wayne coach Phil Gray doesn't let his players know how they are performing during the game, but until afterward when Covington heard her numbers.

"Man, that's hot," she said. "I was feeling it. I had more rebounds than points that's crazy. I got to work on my putbacks though. Everybody just kept everybody pumped."

Covington did miss a few layups in close, but she played amongst the trees all night and consistently out-rebounded even 6-foot-3 teammate Naheria Hamilton. While Hamilton had the responsibility of guarding Aycock's smaller but more dangerous Myleah Jones, Covington had to contend with the taller Alexis Bynum.

"We know she is a guard, but she is a big guard," Gray said. "There is no post player that I know that is going to out-rebound her. She's going to go down there and you might have a 6-foot-5 player but with Jasmine's vertical she's going to out-rebound her ... She's a bunny rabbit. She's got hops."

The top-seeded Warriors (25-0 overall) stayed focused and played their normal game.

"Tonight we focused on do or die," Gray said. "I told the girls tonight could be their last night playing in this gym. If they want to continue playing we have to come out and be ready to go tonight."

They didn't let Gray down.

They played what Gray said "might be the best game we have played all year," and showcased the exact identity they have most of the season -- fast, aggressive -- the Warriors' style of play.

"We know we're going against teams now that if we get off to a slow start, it's going to be tough to catch up," Covington said. "So playing that way now is really, really, really big for us. Tonight it helped us because we got up by 10 and it boosted us. It boosted our game."

For one of the few times all season, the Warriors played man-to-man the entire game and they forced 16 turnovers.

With under three minutes left in the game, Aycock's star senior, Jones, came off the court for the last time. She ended her storied career with more than 1,000 points in a program that's experienced ups and downs.

Jones battled through contact in a physical contest all evening and scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Another senior, guard Taylor Daniels, added 10 points in her final game.

Shontel Monk (13 points) and Megan Mozingo (12 points) joined Covington in double figures for the Warriors. But it was their effort on defense that made the difference.

"I thought their effort was great, we came out fast-paced and on fire," Gray said. "I loved our defense."