1A PLAYOFFS: Rosewood's postseason journey ends

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 2, 2016 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

DURHAM -- Lexi Mercer picked off a steal at midcourt, drove the lane and kissed it off the glass.

Rosewood led 66-64.

Roxboro Community inbounded the ball to sophomore guard Elana Ingram. The Eagles' defense forced her to dribble toward the sideline and the whistle blew.

The referee signaled "2 gray."

Mercer had fouled out.

The charging call enraged the Rosewood faithful and brought head coach Rick Grantham off the bench. He voiced his displeasure to the referee and received a technical foul seconds later. Ingram dropped in both free throws and the Bulldogs eventually prevailed, 69-68, in eastern semifinal-round action of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A girls' basketball playoffs Tuesday evening.

"I really thought we fought," Grantham said. "I saw a different look in their eye like I had seen earlier in the year against Aycock. Never saw them panic. Never saw them think that they couldn't do it without her. To me, that's tremendous growth of the kids because that's not what I've seen the other two years."

Mercer's steal, which led to a traditional three-point play, put Rosewood in front 52-50 with 4.4 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Ingram received the inbounds pass and heaved a 45-footer that swished the net as the buzzer sounded.

Ingram turned toward the Bulldog fans, flexed her muscles and shouted.

It was a sign of things to come in a frenetic, back-and-forth fourth quarter as the teams traded the lead on several occasions. The Eagles' Payton Lane stole the ball and overshot the goal on a layup attempt. Nekia Williams connected on the putback, which tied the game at 64-all with 2:32 to go.

Mercer followed with her go-ahead basket.

The two-time all-state selection then, shockingly, joined sophomore Jala Holloman -- who had also fouled out -- on the bench. Mercer ended the night with 29 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, three steals and four blocked shots.

"And again, I'm not saying he's wrong. That ain't for me to judge," Grantham said. "Out of all that had gone on tonight with 1 (Ingram) driving to the goal like she was and Lexi driving to the goal like she was, that was a dagger to my heart."

Two minutes, 1 second remained on the clock.

After the Bulldogs came up empty on the technical foul possession, Rosewood's Lane earned a trip to the free throw line. She easily sank both attempts, which pushed the Eagles back in front, 68-66.

Each team missed critical free throws down the stretch until Ingram hit the back end of a two-shot foul with 4.6 seconds to go. Rosewood put the ball in play and a missed a desperation shot as the horn sounded.

"It was rough. It was crazy. It was really fast-paced," said Garrison, who tallied 22 points. "We were tired, lost two of our starters. Of course, we had the motivation to push through, but ...

"We played our best and it just didn't come out in our favor."

The top-seeded Bulldogs (30-2 overall) seized control with a 12-2 run in the opening quarter. Ingram, who led all scorers with 35 points, got warmed up in the transition game, while teammate Jasmine Wiggans -- the tallest player on the court -- used her girth and height to score four of her six points on second-chance opportunities.

The fourth-seeded Eagles (25-4) responded with an offensive surge of their own. Garrison's layup in transition off Mercer's assist gave Rosewood its second lead of the game, 26-24, after Holloman hit a 3 -- from Garrison -- to open the contest.

"I thought Alyssa played so dad-gum hard," Grantham said.

Roxboro Community closed the half with a 10-0 run.

Grantham encouraged his team to aggressively attack the basket in the second half, draw fouls and get to the free throw line. Rosewood attempted 20 free throws in the final 16 minutes of regulation and shot 18 of 27 overall.

The Bulldogs converted 19 of 28 FTs on the night.

"I really don't know what to say. It's over," said Grantham, whose team erased a double-digit deficit in the second half. "You know there's going to be a time when it's going to be over, but you don't really look forward to it. You're kind of miserable about it. (But) what a great run they had."

Rosewood's senior class -- Mercer, Garrison and Melanie Smith -- made its third consecutive elite eight appearance, won three Carolina 1-A Conference championships and compiled a sparkling 90-18 record along the way. It's the best three-year run in program history that also includes back-to-back regional runner-up finishes in 2014 and 2015.