Beddingfield ends Lady Gryphons' season
February 28, 2009 Rocky Mount High School
WILSON - Rocky Mount's rubber game with Wilson Beddingfield went the Lady Bruins' way Friday night.
Their third meeting of the season turned out to be the most important encounter of all with a berth in the NCHSAA 3-A East regionals on the line. Beddingfield's postseason experience and the guard play of senior Shaniqua Clay proved to be too much for Rocky Mount in a 69-57 loss.
Beddingfield won the 2006 3-A state title and played in the 2008 3-A championship game.
Rocky Mount, which saw its season end with a fine 22-5 record, battled for 32 minutes, but fine team play by the Lady Bruins (26-3) did it in. Despite another great night by forward Dyonna Battle (25 points, eight rebounds), she didn't get as much help offensively as Clay did on the evening.
When Clay (team-high 21 points) wasn't driving to the basket or hitting free throws, she was dishing off to her teammates on dribble penetration. Backdoor layups became the norm for Beddingfield in the closing minutes of the game.
But Rocky Mount fought the whole way. Even when it faced a 12-point deficit at the end of the third period (50-38), there was no quit in the Lady Gryphons.
Battle, who scored 11 of her team-high 25 in the fourth quarter, led a RMHS surge and cut it to a six-point Beddingfield lead on two free throws with 1:06 remaining.
But the Lady Bruins also hit their free throws in the final seconds to preserve the victory. Ansia Dial followed Clay with 14 points for the Lady Bruins. Lakia Bynum buried four 3-pointers en rout to a 14-point night for the Lady Gryphons.
Battle closed out her varsity career as the school's third all-time girls basketball scorer with 1,292 points. She scored a combined 56 points in her final two contests while going 23-for-23 from the free throw line. |
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