Rocky Mount girls top Havelock in second round
February 27, 2009 Rocky Mount High School
ROCKY MOUNT - Who said girls can't hit free throws?
Don't tell that to the Rocky Mount Lady Gryphons!
They canned 27 out of 31 (87 percent) of them Thursday evening in helping them beat Havelock 69-57 in the NCHSAA 3-A women's sectional semifinals at RMHS' gym. They will move on to the regionals in Greenville next week with a win at Wilson Beddingfield Friday at 7 p.m. Beddingfield blasted Hertford County 72-42 in their semifinal contest Thursday.
Rocky Mount and Beddingfield split their non-conference meetings earlier this season. The Lady Gryphons (22-4) had to overcome a 19-0 Beddingfield first-quarter start at home on Dec. 12 to win 71-68 in overtime. They fell 65-47 at Beddingfield on Jan. 6.
Havelock played with agression on defense all game long. The only thing that did was put Rocky Mount in the bonus early in both halves. And made free throws made the Lady Rams (20-8) pay.
Senior Dyonna Battle scored a career-high 31 points, including going 15-for-15 at the charity stripe. Her previous high had been 28 against J.H. Rose in Dec. Fellow senior Arkeneshia Melton, who joined the club at the semester break, also scored her career high - popping in 23 points and she made nine of 10 attemps at the line.
RM led 19-7 after the first period, but Havelock narrowed the gap to trail 28-25 at intermission. The Lady Gryphons had a slight 44-38 lead by the end of the third period when their defense really kicked in. RMHS started the final stanza wth a 13-5 spurt that fueled it to victory.
Alyssa Luebs led Havelock with 20 points. |
NATIONAL
NORTH CAROLINA
