East Duplin girls' claim ECC title outright

The thought of his team finishing undefeated in the East Central 2-A Conference never crossed the mind of East Duplin girls’ basketball coach Mark Lane.

In fact, when asked if he thought in the preseason that such a feat was possible, Lane just chuckled before responding.

“I probably would have laughed at you,” he said with a smile.

Yet there the Panthers were Thursday as East Duplin ended 14-0 in ECC play with a 49-47 victory at Northside.

Later, Northside defeated East Duplin 43-38 in the boys’ game.

The East Duplin girls’ (21-2, 14-0) were guaranteed at least a share of their first conference title since 2001 win or lose Thursday night, but their second win this season over the Monarchs (20-3, 12-2) clinched the crown outright.

The Panthers will be the ECC’s top seed for next week’s conference tournament as well as for the NCHSAA 2-A playoffs.

“These girls are just amazing,” Lane said. “We have just kept battling.”

Northside, meanwhile, will be the league’s second seed. The Monarchs had won at least a share of the ECC championship every year since 2009, the year they advanced to the East Regionals.

Northside lost 49-45 on Jan. 20 in their first meeting with East Duplin.

“They played good enough to win,” Northside coach Derrick Jones said of his team. “I don’t think it will be hard for them (to rebound from the loss). Everybody is now 0-0. This is it.”

Ayannah Pickett proved to be the hero in the Panthers’ win that let them end undefeated in the conference.

Pickett scored on a layup with 18 seconds left to give East Duplin the lead for good at 48-47. After getting the ball, she drove inside the middle of the lane before putting up a shot from near the basket.

“They called the play, I caught the ball and all I was thinking was score,” Pickett said. “I wanted to attack the goal. I just had to make a big play for us.”

Pickett ended with 11 points, including six in the fourth quarter. She didn’t shoot particularly well, only making 5 of her 14 shots and 1 of 4 from the free throw line.

Still, Lane had enough confidence in Pickett to be clutch down the stretch.

“Ayannah kept missing and missing, but I kept calling her number,” Lane said. “She came though with that basket. It showed her grit and guts by finishing that basket.”

Jones anticipated East Duplin going to the pick-and-roll on the play.

“We tried to stop that pick-and-roll, but she (Pickett) drove it between two of three defenders,” he said. “She took it up strong.”

Even with Pickett’s late layup, Northside still had a chance. However, Northside’s Alexis Redd was called for an offensive foul with 10.3 seconds left. East Duplin’s Maya Smith then followed with a free throw with 8.8 seconds to go.

The Monarchs called two timeouts in the final eight seconds but failed to get off a shot before the buzzer.

“Maya made that second free throw, but if she would have made both, I would have considered fouling Northside (if the Panthers led by three),” Lane said. “But we didn’t have to make that decision.”

The exciting final moments were a nice touch to a back-and-forth game. Both teams traded momentum and leads, but neither team led by more than four points in the second half.

“This was a well-played game by East Duplin and by us,” Jones said. “We just didn’t get enough stops when we needed to. East Duplin did good things offensively and defensively.”

Brittney Woodard led the Panthers with 14 points.

Redd scored 19 points, including five 3-pointers, and Ashanti Curry added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Monarchs, who kept the game close after falling behind 10 early.

“In the first half we made good basketball plays,” Lane said. “In the second half we just did enough to win. Northside missed a few shots.”

East Duplin had nine second-half turnovers while Northside had five after halftime.

“We did a little trapping and pressured the ball in the second half,” Jones said. “If we had knocked down some shots while East Duplin was on a cold streak, we (could have won.)”

And while the majority of the game was close, the Panthers set the tone with an 11-1 to begin the contest. Four different East Duplin players scored in that spurt.

“That run was tremendous,” Lane said. “I think it was important that Northside didn’t jump out on us.”

Also, East Duplin shot 70 percent from the field in the first quarter and 59 percent in the first half.

“We ran the floor well in the first half to get easy baskets,” Pickett said. “We boxed out and played good defense.”

Boys

Northside 43, East Duplin 38: A 12-1 run to start the third quarter was the difference in Northside’s win over East Duplin.

The Monarchs (16-7, 8-6) trailed 21-13 at the break, but caught fire in the third quarter. Northside didn’t allow a third-quarter field goal until there was 3:10 left in the quarter.

“We tried to be positive at halftime. We told them that we were getting outhustled,” said Northside coach Tony Marshburn, who was in his second game back since suffering a heart attack last month. “We then scored on our first three possessions of the second half and that was big.” We came out with a little different attitude.”

Jamal Parker scored 16 points and Tim Francis added 10 points for the Monarchs.

Breon Hall scored 11 points and Jafar Hall added 10 for the Panthers (10-13, 4-10), who held the Monarchs to just four first-half field goals.

“Our guys gave it everything they had,” said East Duplin assistant coach Robert Ross, who spoke for head coach Tom McMahon, who was unavailable for comment. “Northside knocked down some shots and we didn’t.”

GIRLS

East Duplin   17             13             8               11             —              49

Northside     12             15             9               11             —              47

EAST DUPLIN (49)

Woodard 14, McKinzie 2, Smith 7, Sharp 2, Pickett 11, Albertson 7, Byrd 6. Totals— 21-46 6-10 49.

NORTHSIDE (47)

Redd19, Hill 1, Curry 11, Krick 9, Perez 7. Totals— 16-54 8-13 47.

3-Point Goals— E 1 (Albertson), N 7 (Redd 5, Perez 2). Rebounds— E 33 (Pickett 8, Smith 5, Byrd 5), N 31 (Curry 11, Collins 6, Perez 6). RECORDS— E: 21-2, 14-0. N: 20-3, 12-2.

BOYS

East Duplin   9               12             8               9               —              38

Northside     8               5               18             12             —              43

EAST DUPLIN (38)

B. Hall 11, Lane 9, J. Hall 10, C. Scarbrough 3, Stallings 5. Totals— 16-44 4-8 38.

NORTHSIDE (43)

Morrison 4, Perez 2, Parker 16, Chinn 4, Hilton 6, Adams 1, Francis 10. Totals— 17-46 8-15 43.

3-Point Goals—E 2 (B. Hall, Lane), N 1 (Parker). Rebounds— E 29 (C. Scarborough 7, Lane 6, Stallings 5), N 32 (Francis 8, Morrison 6, Chinn 6). RECORDS— E: 10-13, 4-10. N: 16-7, 8-6.