GIRLS' BASKETBALL -- Warriors slip past Saints

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on January 27, 2017 9:57 AM

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DUDLEY -- Treycie Ford dribbled into the lane and two white-shirted jerseys immediately cut off her path to the basket.

Ford dished the ball off to Channing Williams in the left corner.

Unguarded, Williams spotted up from behind the 3-point arc.

"No, no, no!" shouted Eastern Wayne head coach Michael Gurganus as he frantically waved his arms to stop Williams from taking the shot.

Swish.

Gurganus turned and walked back upcourt.

Seconds later, Williams picked Southern Wayne for a steal near midcourt, kissed the layoff off the glass and the Warriors took a collective sigh of relief. The two daggers helped propel Eastern Wayne to a grinding 45-39 victory in Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference play Thursday evening.

"I didn't want her to shoot it all," said the usually quiet and reserved Gurganus. "I wanted to hold the ball, go to four corners and I didn't want anything but a wide-open layup. I wanted to hold the ball the rest of the game, if that's what it took

"We were in a little slump. When it went in, it was like a breath of fresh air."

Samiya Bess' old-fashioned three-point play and two additional free throws - courtesy of a foul on an offensive putback attempt - knotted the game at 36-all with 4:56 remaining in regulation.

Williams' cord-ripping triple broke the deadlock.

"We left their shooters (open) all night, that wasn't the only time," SW head coach Takisha Vann said. "Just the little things we've been working on got away from us. Sometimes when we go in that fog, it's like a storm. We come back out of the fog and we play again.

"We just have those fog moments."

The Saints managed just one field and one free throw the rest of the night and endured their second loss against the Warriors (13-6 overall, 3-5 ECC) this season. Bess ended the night with a double-double - 17 points, 10 rebounds. She converted 9 of 10 free throws.

SW shot 20 of 34 from the stripe for the game.

Despite foul trouble, Nyesha Best emerged as the game's top scorer with 19 points. Backcourt mate Myesha Best contributed eight points, including two highlight-reel spin moves in the lane that resulted in layups. Williams provided eight points.

Ford contributed six points, eight rebounds, six steals and two assists.

"I wanted to see us fight (tonight). I wanted to see us show some pride and passion and I wanted to see them play defense...been lacking on that the past few games," said Gurganus, whose team coaxed the Saints into 35 turnovers.

"I was proud of them tonight when the game was tied. We showed a lot of maturity, didn't get rattled and kept playing."