Mercer has 43-point outing for Rosewood's girls

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 6, 2016 11:38 PM

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SEVEN SPRINGS -- Floating balloons remained intact during Spring Creek's senior night celebration.

But Rosewood senior Lexi Mercer popped the Gators' chances for a win in Carolina 1-A Conference action. The two-time Associated Press All-State selection scored 43 points in an 86-58 victory at "The Swamp."

"I thought Lexi was pretty dang All-American caliber tonight," Eagles coach Rick Grantham said. "Every facet of her game, she shot it well, she scored it (and) she passed it extremely well. She guarded, she rebounded, she stole it, and there ain't a whole lot more you can do."

Rosewood soared to a 56-30 lead at halftime.

Spring Creek, which had its six-game win streak snapped, devised a plan which held the Eagles scoreless for five minutes in the third quarter.

Senior Amber Buchan assisted junior Ashley Marriner twice at the beginning of the quarter with layups. Sophomore Jordan Lane lofted the ball to Marriner on an inbounds pass for a jumper

SC trailed 56-37.

Mercer sparked a 13-0 run that all but sealed the outcome.

Rosewood sophomore Jala Holloman added 25 points, and junior Hannah Daniels collected eight points.

Buchan ended the game with 23 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists. Senior Tysha Teachey added 13 points for the Gators, and Marriner recorded 11 points.

"It's all about belief in my opinion," Gators head coach Charlie Cotten said. "It's all about never giving up no matter what the score is. We've been in those situations before, we've been down in the past and coming out in the second half that thinking, 'This game is out of our reach. There is nothing we can do about it'.

"So, when you come out in the second half and you're down by 30 points, you've got two options: you can give up or you get off your butt and play hard."

Spring Creek (10-11 overall, 8-4 CC) travels to James Kenan next Tuesday, and Rosewood (17-3, 12-0) faces Neuse Charter the same day.