Wayne Country Day girls rally in fourth

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on January 6, 2008 2:15 AM

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Avenging an earlier loss to Rosewood's girls might not have been Wayne Country Day's top priority Friday evening, but the outcome -- decided in the fourth quarter -- satisfied first-year head coach Eric Perry.

Paced by their underclassmen, the Chargers pulled off a come-from-behind, 37-27 victory over the Eagles. Eighth-grader Catherine Ford drained six free throws in the final period to seal the comeback and led all scorers with 10 points.

"We didn't play well and had two starters on the bench for missing practice," said Perry. "But, they fought through and we're proud of the girls for that."

Wayne Country Day used a 10-0, third-quarter run to put away Rosewood in the boys' game. Guard Floronta Wynn came off the bench and pumped in a game-high 20 points for the Chargers, who triumphed 61-42 for their county-leading 12th win of the season.

"Not a bad ball game considering having a number of days off and not having any competition," said Chargers head coach Terry Jones. "I figured it would be a little slow and rusty, but as long as we kept our heads in it, we should be okay."

The Charger girls (4-7 overall) finally discovered their offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter. Trailing 23-17, they unleashed a game-deciding 14-0 run that started on Shelle Anderson's jumper off Brooke Norris' assist.

Ford added a jumper and Kim Martell's 3-pointer off Norris' third assist of the game gave Wayne Country Day its first lead, 24-23, with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.

Foul trouble plagued Rosewood, which experienced a 12-minute scoring drought in the second half. With scorers Haile Meadows and Taylor Johnson on the bench, the Eagles had few options on offense.

"Because of the foul trouble, we had to use a lot people we normally don't use a lot in the fourth quarter," said Rosewood coach Karen Williams. "They just lost their intensity. Wayne Country Day just outplayed us.

"We didn't play defense well ... didn't hustle up and down the court like we should."

Martell's jumper and Anderson's offensive putback kept the run intact. Bridgette Briggs (eight points, five rebounds, five blocks, three steals) sank two free throws, while Norris hit the front end of a two-shot foul.

Briggs and Ford combined to shoot 12 of 13 from the free throw line in the final period. Overall, Wayne Country Day was 16 of 27 at the charity stripe, compared to 8 of 17 for Rosewood.

"We were rushing our offense ... not running our set (plays) all the way through," said Perry, whose team managed 17 points through three quarters of play. "We just settled down and starting executing our offense. When a young team finally gets confidence, like they did in the fourth quarter, they start to listen better to what you're telling them."

Foul trouble dictated a slow tempo in the boys' game. The teams combined for less than 30 points in 12 minutes of action.

Once the Chargers employed their full-court press, the pace picked up and generated some excitement before a near-capacity crowd. Wayne Country Day (12-4) led 28-16 at the break and Rosewood head coach Daniel Mitchell felt comfortable with how well his team handled the pressure defense in transition.

He felt a 12-point deficit was manageable with 16 minutes of playing time remaining. But the Eagles (3-7) didn't carry over that execution into the second half.

Rosewood misfired on three consecutive possessions and lost two turnovers as the Chargers cruised ahead 36-16 just two minutes into the second half.

"I was really disappointed with the way we came out after halftime," said Mitchell. "We didn't do a lot of things well, didn't show much character and thought we threw in the towel there for a little bit at the time.

"Later on the in the game, the guys played a little harder."

Wynn, benched for the first 12 minutes, tallied nine of the Chargers' 20 points in the third quarter. His steal and layup off the first possession of the second half set the tempo.

"The first half, we really couldn't throw our best foot forward," said Jones. "In the second half, we put our best foot forward and wanted to put it away. Defensively, we've got some hounds and when we can play smart and play fundamental, we can get some good easy baskets."

That happened throughout the third quarter as the Chargers claimed their biggest lead, 47-26. Rosewood climbed within 47-32 early in the final period, but could get no closer.

Cam Strickland complemented Wynn with 13 points, including nine from 3-point range. Josh Gregory contributed nine points.

Stephen McIntyre and Holt Rains emerged the Eagles' top scorers with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Girls

WCDS 2 9 6 20 -- 37

Rosewood 5 10 8 4 -- 27

WAYNE COUNTRY DAY (4-7)

Brooke Norris 2 0 2-4 6, Erin Taylor 0 0 0-0 0, Shelle Anderson 3 0 1-4 7, Kim Martell 1 1 1-4 6, Catherine Ford 2 0 6-7 10, Danielle Holland 0 0 0-0 0, Bridgette Briggs 1 0 6-6 8. TOTALS -- 9 1 16-27 37.

ROSEWOOD (4-6)

Mary Jo Moore 1 0 0-0 2, Misha Chester 0 1 0-0 3, Taylor Johnson 2 0 0-2 4, Jennifer Hall 0 0 0-0 0, Christina Bruton 0 1 0-0 3, Haile Meadows 0 0 3-4 3, Paige Babb 0 1 0-0 3, Shantal Johnson 2 0 4-6 8, Gabby Common 0 0 1-2 1, Melissa Hall 0 0 0-3 0. TOTALS -- 5 3 8-17 27.

Boys

WCDS 11 17 20 13 -- 61

Rosewood 7 9 14 12 -- 42

WAYNE COUNTRY DAY (12-4)

Landon Case 0 1 1-3 4, Cam Strickland 1 3 2-2 13, David Wilson 1 0 2-2 4, Floronta Wynn 6 2 2-4 20, Jeff Franklin 1 0 0-0 2, Josh Gregory 3 0 3-4 9, Reco McCarter 2 0 1-2 5, Kevin Martell 0 0 2-2 2, Vaughn Eason 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS -- 15 6 13-19 61.

ROSEWOOD (3-7)

Stephen McIntyre 3 1 5-8 14, Ahkeem Simms 0 0 0-0 0, Sean Cornman 0 0 3-4 3, Terence Toran 1 2 0-0 8, Bryan Lewis 1 0 0-0 2, Tyler Muntz 0 0 0-0 0, Jacquez Raynor 2 0 1-2 5, Joseph Willis 0 0 0-0 0, Holt Rains 5 0 0-0 10. TOTALS -- 12 3 9-14 42.