Lady Gryphons hold off Southern Nash to make NEW 6 finals
February 20, 2009 By Charles Alston of Rocky Mount High School
PINETOPS - Rocky Mount's girls advanced to the NEW 6 Conference Tournament game Thursday with a hard-fought 48-37 win over Southern Nash at SouthWest Edgecombe.
Rocky Mount will face No. 3 seed Wilson Fike (15-7) in the tournament finals Friday at 6 p.m. The Lady Golden Demons, behind a tournament-high 31 points from senior guard Tramicka James, ran away from No. 2 seed SouthWest Edgecombe in the fourth quarter for a 55-41 decision.
The Lady Gryphons, the No. 1 seed and defending tournament champions, had to scratch and claw their way to this win. Southern Nash kept the tempo deliberate and it put a damper into the running style of Rocky Mount.
RM led 13-7 after the first period and held a slight lead at the half (20-19).
No. 4 seed Southern (9-15) got more production from senior guard Alyse Hall, who may make the league's All-Conference for a record fourth time, in the third period. Hall, who finished with 18 points, helped Southern tie the game at 31-all at the end of the third.
Rocky Mount senior Dyonna Battle, who topped the 1,200-point mark in the game (1,210), took charge in the fourth. She scored eight of her game-high 20 points in the final eight minutes to allow the Lady Gryphons to slowly pull away.
Rocky Mount (19-4) will be going for its eighth 20-win season under head coach Pam Gainey in the championship game. The win Thursday was also the 275th of Gainey's coaching career (275-127). |
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