Graham Blasts Bartlett Yancey
February 20, 2013
By Denis Vass of Graham High School Both Boy's and Girl's basketball teams won with relative ease tonight in the opening round of the Mid-State basketball tournament against Bartlett Yancey.
The Lady Devils took a 16-4 first period lead and let it balloon into a 30-11 halftime lead, and they smashed the Lady Bucs 52-23. Coach Melinda Goodson emptied her bench early, substituting freely, as 9 players got into the scoring column, led by Kay Kay Wilson's 16 points. Deja Cousin added 10 points.
The Lady Devils, the #2 seed in the conference, improved to 17-8 and move into Thursday's semi-final match at Bartlett Yancey, this year's host for the tournament, against #3 seed Jordan Matthews.
The boys team struggled the first period, as the Buccaneers roard back from a 10-4 defecit to take a 17-16 lead after one period of play.
The Red Devils then swung onto Bartlett Yancey's ship, bound the Buccaneers, stole their sabers, blindfolded them, and pushed them off the plank as they blasted Bartlett Yancey 25-9 the second period to head into the locker room at the half leading 41-26. Antonio Turnr led the onslaught banging home three long-range three point baskets.
Graham (20-5) was not content with pushing the Buccaneers off the plank. After the half they held the Buccaneers under the water the entire third period, outscoring them 27-8 to push their lead to 34 points after three periods, 68-34.
Coach Williams finally called off the dogs and let the third team play most of the fourth period, as the Red Devils won handily, 84-58.
Tonight's win was a team victory, with 13 Red Devils making it into the scoring column, with Kendall Patterson leading the way, scoring 16 points. Antonio Turner and Troy Bowden each scored 11 points for Graham.
Graham, the #2 seed in the Mid-State conference, will play in Thursday's semi-final at 7:30 following the Lady Devils against #3 seed Eastern Randolph
