Monday, Mar. 08, 2010

Finals bids just out of reach

Enloe eliminates Clayton in the 4-A girls basketball regionals.

After giving their eastern 4-A girls basketball regional opponent a ride to the game, Enloe wasn't as friendly in the second half against Clayton Thursday night. The Eagles railed from a 14-point deficit behind the 3-point shooting of freshman Mykia Jones and downed Clayton, 56-51.

Clayton led 46-32 with 59 seconds to play in the third quarter but Enloe -- despite foul trouble -- started to fight its way back. Jones hit her first 3 of the second half at the buzzer to end the third quarter, cutting the lead to 46-37.

Her next 3-pointer didn't come until halfway through the final quarter. The next followed a few seconds later and tied the game at 51 with 3:01 to play.

"That was the one that meant the most to me," Jones said.

Neither team could score for the next minute-plus and then it was Jones who came through again. She dropped home another 3-ball for a 54-51 Enloe lead with 1:13 to play. It was the Eagles' first lead since 8-7.

"We knocked down some big shots," said Enloe coach Pina Baker. "I told them at this point, we trust each other. I don't care if she's a freshman; she's hot, just get her the ball."

Jones finished with a game-high 22 points. Ryan Flowers, one of four Enloe players who picked up a fourth foul with significant time remaining in the second half, added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Flowers, Elena Frac and Dana Brown all finished the game with four fouls.

The Eagles outscored Clayton 19-5 in the final quarter of play.

"We didn't do a really good job of taking care of the ball," said Clayton coach Marlon Lee. "They outscored us 19-5 in the quarter."

The Comets (28-3) did most of their damage on the night by controlling the tempo and relying on the playmaking abilities of guard Latesha Williams, who finished with eight assists.

Williams finished with nine points, while Vernessa Hinnant and Marnikka Young had 11 points each.

But Enloe outscored the Comets 19-5 in the fourth quarter.

"We just weren't getting the hustle plays," said Enloe's Brown. "They got to the loose balls and we didn't. In the second half, we just didn't want to go home."

The Eagles iced the game with some deft ballhandling to keep the Comets from fouling until just 23.9 seconds remained.

Clayton was called for an intentional foul for grabbing a jersey at that point, and Jones hit both free throws for a five-point lead that held.

"Our thing all year has been to just win quarters," said Comet coach Marlon Lee. "They just hit some shots and we missed some shots. They won the biggest quarter [the fourth]."

The Comets were making their first regional appearance since 1991 and carried a 21-game winning streak with them to Greenville.

Clayton had come within a win of making regionals in Young's freshman campaign but the Comets' ensuing two seasons ended in the sectional playoffs.

"I told the girls after the game that although we're disappointed to lose, this was our greatest season here at Clayton," Lee said. "A lot of people didn't expect us to get this far, like when we went to the sectional finals four years ago, but now we know what it takes to get here and we'll try to do it again."

The Comets will lose Young, Shaquira Hall (eight points, two rebounds on Thursday), Katina Moseley and Young to graduation.

"Our school isn't a basketball school," Young said. "Now you see girls coming in here and wanting to play basketball at Clayton. Hopefully we've turned the corner. Now, we're one of the teams you're going to have to beat to get to the regionals because we know what it takes to do it and we've done it."