Hamilton's triple-double not enough in Warriors' loss

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on January 16, 2016 11:13 PM

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jhayes@newsargus.com

Eastern Wayne senior center Naheria Hamilton was honored in a pre-game ceremony Friday evening, and presented a commemorative basketball in recognition of her eclipsing 600 career rebounds.

Then she promptly registered a triple-double with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.

Hamilton's performance, however, was muted by a dogged D.H. Conley squad which used a frantic defensive effort to eliminate an early deficit and win its fourth straight contest, 52-43.

From the outset, it appeared Hamilton and company would have an easy time with the Vikings, who struggled to find points against the roaming, amoeba-like defense of Eastern Wayne. The Warriors were especially efficient in the second period, allowing only six points on two made field goals.

The third quarter was different.

Using a variety of dizzying half-court pressure schemes, Conley forced 10 turnovers of its own -- including seven in a three minute span. The miscues led to a 17-point quarter and a 36-29 lead entering the final stanza. The dominant effort doomed the Warriors, who fell to 7-6 overall and 1-3 in Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference play.

Lavivica Wilson led the Vikings with 16 points, and sophomore guard Mackena Batts chipped in 14 -- only two of which came before the break. Conley improved to 7-8 overall and 3-1 in the ECC.