Princeton's Wood hits big shots

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 6, 2008 1:47 PM

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PRINCETON -- With his team rallying late in the fourth quarter on Tuesday night Princeton girls coach David Anderson offered up these simple words as the Bulldogs broke the huddle following a timeout, 'Great comeback but it's not over yet. Give me everything you've got.'

Anderson's words must have been taken to heart as Amber Wood knocked down three 3's in the final 31/2 minutes of the ballgame. Princeton also got a clutch perfromance out of Brittany Baker, who despite battling flu-like symptoms, sank four free throw's in the last 18 seconds to seal a 44-39 win over North Duplin.

Moments before draining her game-clinching free throws Baker had missed four consecutive attempts from the line that could have stretched the Bulldogs lead.

"We showed a lot of character and came back," Anderson said. "I was very proud of our girls. Amber was missing a lot of shots and I told her to shoot and it was going to fall and she came up big. Brittany is basically our team captain and she stepped it up. She's very sick and she was tough there at the end."

Wood finished with a game-high 20 points and Jodie Williamson paced the Rebels (5-8, 2-5) with 18.

At times when Princeton (9-12, 4-3 CC) struggled to find offensive continuity and get stops on defense it still managed to outwork North Duplin on the glass, finishing with a 46-30 advantage in rebounding. The Rebels were plagued by a 13 for 22 performance from the free throw.

"We missed some free throws there that hurt us,"North Duplin head coach Danny Blackburn said. "I told our girls at halftime whoever won the rebounding battle in the second half would win the game and I'm sure Princeton won it."

On a night when he was honored at halftime of the girls game for breaking the 1,000 point plateau, Ryan Daughtry's conventional three-point play lifted Princeton to a 47-44 victory.

After Daughtry sank one of two free throws with 45 seconds to play putting the Bulldogs (16-5, 5-2) in front 44-42, Chris Graham's layup on the other end quickly tied the ballgame.

On the ensuing possession Daughtry was able to penetrate to the basket and North Duplin's (2-11, 0-7 CC) Doug Lloyd was whistled for a blocking foul, but not before Daughtry's layup attempt was successful. Ryan Killette and Bryce Jones both had looks at 3's that were off the mark in the closing seconds for the Rebels.

"I don't know how many times in the last three years Ryan's done that," Bulldogs head coach Jeff Davis said. "I've never had a player hit as many clutch game-winning, quarter-ending and half-ending shots. It's just unbelievable. He's just find a way to do it."

Daughtry and Killette both scored 16.

Princeton hosts rival North Johnston on Friday while North Duplin entertains Ayden-Grifton.

Boys

North Duplin 8 14 10 12 - 44

Princeton 10 12 6 19 - 47

NORTH DUPLIN (2-11, 0-7 CC)

Ryan Killette 7 0 2-4 16, Quentin Graham 3 1 0-0 9, Doug Lloyd 0 1 1-2 4, Chris Graham 3 1 0-0 9, Chris Warren 2 0 0-0 4, Blake King 1 0 0-0 2. TOTALS 16 3 3-6 44.

PRINCETON (16-5, 5-2 CC)

Michael Radford 0 1 2-2 5, Ryan Daughtry 2 3 3-6 16, Will Gainey 2 0 2-3 6, Josh Barefoot 1 2-2 4, Chris Hinton 5 0 3-3 13, Benton Myers 0 3-4 3. TOTALS 10 4 15-20 47.

Girls

North Duplin 6 10 11 13 - 39

Princeton 9 6 6 23 - 44

NORTH DUPLIN (5-8, 2-5 CC)

Samantha Cates 1 0 3-5 5, Heather Hudson 3 0 2-4 8, Katlyn Eloshway 0 0 1-2 1, Rebecca Coats 1 0 5-7 7, Jodie Williamson 5 2 2-4 18. TOTALS 10 2 13-22 39.

PRINCETON (9-12, 4-3 CC)

Amber Wood 3 4 2-3 20, Jill Whitley 2 0 0-0 4, Brittany Baker 1 0 4-8 6, Tiffine Battle 1 0 1-2 3, Devon Murphy 2 0 0-0 4, Rebecca Harlan 2 0 2-4 6, Tylan George 0 0 1-3 1. TOTALS 11 4 10-21 44.