EW's Hamilton, N. Best lead second-half charge

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on January 26, 2016 1:48 PM

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For the first time in a calendar week, Eastern Wayne failed to resemble the team which dispatched its previous two conference foes -- in short order, no less -- by an average of 10 points.

Struggling against a myriad of zone defenses and timely double teams, Eastern Wayne got a late push from its two best players to defeat South Central, 56-46, in Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference play Monday evening.

Out of synch?

Yes.

Out of time?

No.

Not with Naheria Hamilton and Nyesha Best keeping the clock. Hamilton rebounded from a subpar first half -- in which she failed to establish post position or outperform Central freshman Ninevah Reddick -- to register 18 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.

"She's (Hamilton) hard to stop... We just told her to stay aggressive," Ew head coach Phil Gray said, "and be ready to play through double teams."

The finishing touch, however, came from the backcourt.

Best -- who was largely silent in the game's opening half -- sprinted in nuclear fashion to the final buzzer. She pushed the ball in transition, got into the lane at will to score or set up her teammates for easy baskets.

"She's coming along as our point guard," Gray remarked with a smile, "just leading the floor... and able to control everything."

With a minute left and the Warriors clinging to a 53-45 advantage, Best did just that. She grabbed her final steal of the half and effectively ended the contest from the charity stripe.

Her effort was necessary to counter balance a stellar performance from Reddick, who notched a game-high 19 points.

Eastern Wayne travels to New Bern on Wednesday.