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the courier-times | roxboro, Nc
SportS
wedNesday, march 4, 2015
Bulldogs headed to regionals RCS wins three games in four days, including a thriller against NCAC rival Franklin Academy to earn trip to Fayetteville
the blizzaRd
Kelly sNow
Freshman already on the path to greatness
By Kelly Snow courier-times sports editor kellysnow@roxboro-courier.com
TIMBERLAKE — The only thing that Roxboro Community School girls’ basketball coach Brian Cousin didn’t do was put four fingers in the air. With the Bulldogs clinging to a one-point lead with 4:06 to play in Tuesday’s 1-A sectional final, the team’s first-year head coach pulled his girls back, spread the court and put the ball in the hands of freshman point guard Elana Ingram. The strategy worked. Roxboro Community School was able to milk the clock with its modified Four Corners offense, get key stops and hang on for a 42-38 victory over North Central Athletic Conference rival Franklin Academy in the third round of the 1-A state playoffs. The victory was the RCS’s third in a fourday gauntlet that will send the program to its first-ever regional semifinal. When the week began, the Bulldogs’ program had never even won a playoff game — let alone three in a row. “They came into the season knowing that we had a lot to prove,” Cousin said. “We’re a team that’s been learning together all year and we told them in November that we were going to come together, play together and work hard together. One thing I’ve told them is to just take care of your own responsibility because if we all do that, everything else wll take care of itself.” Franklin Academy (23-4) controlled the pace and slowed down the speedy Bulldogs with its 2-3 zone for most of the game. The Patriots were inviting the RCS’s shooters to launch from beyond the 3-point arc, and most were off target, but the Bulldogs came through with three huge bombs that helped launch the team all the way to Fayetteville. Reserve forward Carlee Garrett drained a 3-pointer from the corner to tie the game up at 33 late in the third quarter. The Patriots were able to go into the fourth with a slim 3433 advantage, but had that disappear when senior Alyssa Morris buried a 3-pointer from the elbow with 5:30 to play after a nice pass from forward Brianna Henderson. Franklin came right back and tied the game up on its next trip up the floor when Abby Keel scored after an offensive rebound. The Bulldogs’ final bomb, and last field goal of the game, gave the team the lead for
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Kelly sNow | courier times
Above: Roxboro Community School forward Mya Johnson comes up with an important steal late in the Bulldogs’ third-round victory against Franklin Academy Tuesday at Helena Gym. Johnson finished with 12 points and eight rebounds to help lead the Bulldogs to their first-ever regionals appearance. (below) The team celebrates the victory as time expired.
verything stopped. One overwhelming thought permeated Helena Gym with 3:10 remaining in the Roxboro Community School girls’ basketball first-round playoff game against Pinetown Northside. Not again. Bulldog guard Elana Ingram drove hard to the basket, was knocked down for the umpteenth time by a Panthers’ player, but this time she wasn’t able to bounce right up. It was a horribly scary case of deja vu. Five weeks earlier, RCS boys’ player Darius McGhee attacked the rim similarly, landed awkwardly and in an instant had his season come to an abrupt, grotesque end with a broken arm. Ingram reached for her knee, and her eyes immediately grew big as Bulldog coach Brian Cousin whizzed by to check on her. After a few anxious moments, she walked back to the bench without any help — everyone exhaled and sound returned to Helena Gym. She stretched out her knee for the next few minutes before making a surprise reappearance with 43 seconds to play and her team winning by 20 points. After the game, I casually asked her why she felt like she had to scare everyone. Her answer — “whatever, I’m good.” She’s a whole lot better than good. Ingram is the Bulldogs’ electric leader who can get to the rim and score pretty much at will. “Elana does what she does,” Cousin said. “She’s a heck of an athlete and a heck of a ball player. She’s our floor general and get things going for everyone else.” The freshman has a basketball IQ far beyond her years and rarely changes her expression, but there were a couple of exceptions in the team’s first two playoff games. Ingram got off to a blistering start in her playoff debut, with a layup, a steal and a couple of free throws in the first 37 seconds. She scored 10 points in the first quarter, her final three coming after scooping up a loose ball following a blocked shot by teammate Brianna Henderson and going the length of
See REGIONALS, Page 7
See BLIZZARD, Page 7
] RoxboRo community school boys basketball [
Roxboro Community School guard Christian Ingram tries to shoot over a pair of defenders during the Bulldogs first-round playoff game against Goldsboro Rosewood. The Eagles used a box-and-one to slow down Ingram, who entered the game averaging nearly 24 points a game. Kelly sNow | courier times
Eagles box up RCS’s season defense carries rosewood past bulldogs in opening round matchup By Kelly Snow courier-times sports editor kellysnow@roxboro-courier.com
TIMBERLAKE — The Roxboro Community School boys’ basketball team prides itself on playing its best inside of The Box — the nickname the players affectionately gave to their home gym. But it was the box (and one) that ultimately ended the Bulldogs’ season as they fell to Goldsboro Rosewood 59-45 in the first round of the 1-A East playoffs Saturday at Helena Gym. RCS was the 16th-seed in the 1-A East and finished the season 18-9 and third in the North Central Athletic Conference. The Bulldogs have made the state playoffs in each of the last three years, but fell short Saturday in
winning the program’s first-ever opening-round game. “We’re starting to change a culture and that’s what we’re going to have to continue to do to be successful,” RCS first-year coach David Kent said. “No one in that locker room wanted this to be our last game. We didn’t want to end (this season) like this in The Box. We wanted to get our seniors their last home win and see what could happen at (top-seed) East Carteret. We’re going to take a little time off and get back at it and get better.” RCS rallied from an early double-digit hole to trail by just one, 31-30 at halftime, behind 16 points from senior Christian Ingram. Ingram was one of the top scorers in the 1-A ranks this season at 23.9 points a game, but took his game to an even higher level after a season-ending arm injury to sensational sophomore guard Darius McGhee in late January. Ingram averaged nearly 35 points a game in McGhee’s absence and Rosewood made a point to take him away after his strong first half.
Rosewood switched from a man-to-man defense to a boxand-one at the start of the second half, with physical guard Ethan Chapin matching up with Ingram while the other Eagle defenders played a zone. Rosewood swarmed to Ingram every time he touched the ball with multiple defenders, and the Bulldogs’ offense struggled to find an answer. Ingram scored eight points in the second half, but six at the free throw line. RCS managed just four baskets from the floor, including an uncontested layup by Ingram in the final seconds. “When they put the box-andone on us, it slowed Christian,” Kent said. “Getting him open and getting him going was hard and no one else really wanted to step up. Te’Shon (Clayton) would at times, but wasn’t consistent in shooting. We needed big shots from everyone, and it never came.” The Eagles took a 46-37 lead into the fourth quarter after a 3-pointer by Chapin in the wanSee RCS, Page 8
SPORTS
wednesday, march 4, 2015
the courier-times | roxboro, nc A7
BLIZZARD: ingram could be Person county’s next great female basketball player FROM PAGE 6
Kelly snow | courier times
Roxboro Community School basketball players (left, white uniforms) Te’Nisha Clayton, (middle) Carlee Garrett and Alyssa Morris get on the floor after a loose ball during Monday’s game against Tarboro.
RegIOnALS: late threes help bulldogs outlast Fa FROM PAGE 6 good. Forward Mya Johnson stepped into a three just a couple of feet away from the Bulldogs’ bench and drained it, pushing RCS to a 39-36 lead with 4:15 to play. “Those threes were huge for us,” Cousin said. “Carlee came off the bench after being a starter for us for a while. She knew she was the first-man off the bench and when she got in there, she knew we were going to need her. Those threes from Carlee, Alyssa and Mya kept us in it.” The Patriots had another response, this time with a bucket on the inside by Dara McClusky. When RCS got the the ball back with just a one-point lead, it spread the floor and forced the the Patriots to come out of their stifling zone. “I was watching Dean Smith’s tribute the other day, and I thought if we got a comfortable lead against a zone, this was what we were going to do,” Cousin said. “I knew we had to make them come out of that zone and I think we did a good job. The last four minutes of the game, we did a nice job of pulling it out and moving the ball around.” The last four minutes were not without a few scary moments.Franklin’s Amelia Huffman deflected an Ingram pass near halfcourt and missed a layup short with just over a minute to play. Ingram, still nursing a knee injury from Saturday’s first-round game, only hit just 1-of-3 free throw attempts in the final minute. McCluskey had a clean look for a go-ahead three with less than 30 seconds to play, but missed, and Johnson corralled the rebound. Johnson calmly stepped up to the free throw line and drained two free throws with 19.7 to play to stretch the Bulldogs’ lead to four. The sophomore forward also had a pair of big steals that helped the Bulldogs dribble out the clock and escape with the win. The Patriots’ zone helped slow down Ingram, but the freshman finished with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists while playing all 32 minutes. Johnson stepped up huge for the Bulldogs with 12 points and eight boards, while Morris chipped in six. Garrett came off the bench and added five points and two rebounds, while Danielle Holt battled through foul trouble and finished with three. Henderson had one point and led the Bulldogs with 12 rebounds. The sophomore forward has pulled down 30 rebounds so far in the playoffs. Keel had a big game for the Patriots with a season-high 18 points. The forward had all of Franklin’s first quarter points, 11, many on second-chance opportunities. “(Keel) hurt us big time in the paint,” Cousin said. “They did a good job of feeding her in the high post and backdoor screening for her. She did a lot on the boards, and we had to sag on her
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LAST yeAR’S STATe fInALIST wAITIng On The BuLLDOgS In RegIOnALS RCS will challenge last year’s East representative in the state title game, Williamston Riverside, in Thursday’s regional at the Crown Arena in Fayetteville. The Knights are in the midst of a 15-game winning streak and haven’t lost since falling to 4-A regional participant Raleigh Athens Drive 76-72 in the HighSchoolOT.com Holiday Invitational in late December. Riverside came ever-so-close to ending one of the most dominant runs in the state’s history, but fell a little short in last year’s state title game against ninetime consecutive 1-A champion Kernersville Bishop McGuinness. The Knights are led by 6-foot-1 sophomore Kayla Jones, who’s averaging more than 21 points a game and is considered a top-10 forward nationally in the class of 2017 according to ESPNW.com. “She’s outstanding,” Cousin said of Jones. “We know we have to try our best to contain her as best we can, and try to shut down everyone else around her. It we do the job on the defensive end, I think we’ll be okay.” NOTE — Game time for Thursday’s regional semifinal game will be announced by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association today. When the tip time is released, it will be posted on personcountylife.com and on The Courier-Times’ Facebook page.
BuLLDOg gIRLS SuRvIve PhySIcAL BATTLe wITh TARBORO In SecOnD ROunD The Roxboro Community School girls’ basketball team had an off-night on the offensive end, but did enough defensively to knock off 15-seed Tarboro, 4333 in the second round of the 1-A
state playoffs Monday night at Helena Gym. RCS held Tarboro scoreless for all but the final eight seconds of the first quarter and took a 13-2 lead into the second in Monday’s second-round contest. The Bulldogs led throughout the game, but Tarboro trimmed the lead to seven by the end of the third quarter. RCS made just four field goals in the second half, but connected on 13-of-27 free throws to keep the Vikings at arms length. Freshman Elana Ingram paced the Bulldogs with 19 points and five rebounds, while Mya Johnsn had a strong allaround game with 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks. Ne’Tonya Boddie led the Vikings with 10 points.
RcS OuTRunS nORThSIDe fOR PROgRAm’S fIRST-eveR PLAyOff wIn The Roxboro Community School girls’ basketball team advanced to the second round of the 1-A state playoffs with a 59-39 victory against Pinetown Northside Saturday afternoon at Helena Gym. The win was RCS’s first playoff victory in the program’s history. CS took a 20-11 lead into the second quarter and battled through foul trouble to starters Danielle Holt and Mya Johnson to stretch to lead to 35-23 by halftime. The Bulldogs were able to extend the lead to 20 by the start of the third quarter. Freshman guard Elana Ingram led RCS with 27 points, six assists and five steals, while Alyssa Morris poured in 17 points, including four 3-pointers. Brianna Henderson had a strong game on the backboards for the Bulldogs with 12 rebounds to go along with four points, three steals and two blocks. Alexandra Adams led Northside with 13 points.
the floor for a layup as the clock hit triple-zero. She scored while being hammered and let out a huge yell as she was being congratulated by teammates. Ingram continued on to have an outstanding game with 27 points, six assists, five steals and four rebounds. The freshman was noticeably favoring her knee in Monday’s second-round game against Tarboro, but was still dictating the pace of play and having a strong outing. The Bulldogs couldn’t quite shake Tarboro, and had a surprisingly-slim seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter. Viking guards kept playing very physical against Ingram, borderline chippy, and even shoved her during a loose ball near halfcourt. Some of the RCS fans in the bleachers wanted one of the Tarboro player thrown out, but she wasn’t. Ingram’s expression got a little colder, her jaw clinched a little tighter and her game got a little tougher. On back-to-back drives early in the fourth quarter, the freshman drove left hard towards the basket, jump-stopped and Tarboro guard Ne’Tonya Boddie went airborne both times after getting beaten to the spot. Ingram missed the shot the second time, but teammate Mya Johnson ripped down the offensive board, scored and was fouled. Tarboro coach Jamie Willoughby flew off the bench furious at the non-call, erupted at the officials during the timeout, got a technical, and the Bulldogs rolled from there to a 43-33 win. Ingram scored 10 points after the dust-up with a Tarboro player at halfcourt — a moment that I described to RCS assistant boys’ basketball coach Kirk Redman as “poking the bear.” She’s a fantastic scorer, but the way she’s able to get teammates involved and play defense without fouling makes her even more special. Ingram drew the assignment of guarding Northside’s best player, Alexandra Adams, in the first quarter. Ingram made life miserable for Adams, held her scoreless as the Bulldogs got off to a 20-11 first-quarter lead and cruised to the win. “We knew (Adams) was their best player and was going to take a lot of shots,” Cousin said. “(Adams is) a heck of a ballplayer. A
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— an all-time great. So after Tuesday’s third-round win against Franklin Academy, I again asked her about her knee. “It hurts, but if we keep playing, I’m going to keep playing. It feels better now (that we won).” Yep...the kid’s a gamer.
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lot of times, we’ll put Elana on the other team’s best player and she does a good job of slowing them down. I tell the girls that if we play our best defense, we’ve got a great chance to win. There are times that we have to have her guard their best player.” Ingram’s debut season for the Bulldogs has been fantastic, as much for her unselfishness and willingness to do the little things to win as her impressive stats. She’s already the best player to ever lace them up at RCS, but if she continues to improve as a player, Ingram has the potential to be for Roxboro Community School what Wendy Palmer and Melinda Goodson are to Person
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Mar. 4-10, 2015 Roxboro Community School forward Brianna Henderson battles for a rebound with a taller Tarboro player during Monday’s secondround playoff game. Henderson has pulled down 30 rebounds during the first three rounds of the playoff.
Kelly snow | courier times
Roxboro Community School guard Elana Ingram scores as the end of the first quarter while being fouled during the team’s firstround playoff game against Pinetown Northside.
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