Sunday, Feb. 05, 2012

Wildcats outlast Trojans

West gets record eighth win with OT triumph

The two seniors on the West Johnston girls basketball team - Shorty Frederick and J.P. Preston - wanted to do something special their senior season.

After outlasting the Trojans of Garner in a 46-41 overtime victory Tuesday, the senior duo realized their wish as the Wildcats set a new mark for wins in a season at eight.

Preston's 15 points led the Wildcats, and Frederick came up with a couple of big plays in the extra session to help the Wildcats avenge a 47-43 defeat to the same Trojans earlier in the season.

"I challenged my two seniors," West Johnston coach Bill Pepicello said.

"I said to my seniors, 'You've been here four years, do something that's never been done.'

"They did a great job. All our kids really played hard tonight."

The physical contest saw Garner's leading scorer, Kiyana Stokes, get knocked out of the game in the final minutes of the third quarter.

With Stokes and her team-leading 13 points gone for the remainder of the night, the rest of the Trojans stepped up to fill the void and helped push the Wildcats to the brink before conceding in overtime.

Kelsey Bryan had eight second-half points and Jakiya Davis added six more to help the Trojans come back to take the lead after trailing by seven points at halftime.

"We showed effort; it's as simple as that," said Garner coach Hardrick Mays. "We showed what we're capable of doing. They didn't look for Kiyana; they looked to each other."

In overtime, Frederick punished the Trojans for not getting back in transition after a Garner miss at the other end of the court with an easy lay-up to give the Wildcats a three-point lead with less than two minutes left.

It was a lead West would not surrender.

"Some of us ran out of gas," Mays said of the Trojan play in overtime. "There was a mental lapse there. I told them, 'Don't go to sleep, don't relax but play hard (because) playing hard is how we got here.' "

Frederick sealed the deal with a key rebound of another Trojan miss and a nice assist to Tanay Smith.

West built its lead in the first half thanks to strong rebounding by Eboni Robinson.

Robinson finished the game with six points for the Wildcats, but it was her 12rebounds, including eight offensive rebounds, that paved the way to West's early advantage.

"Eboni just played an unbelievable game," Pepicello said. "I thought that was thedifference in the first half.

"Those were big things tonight for us - rebounds."