Atkins' free throws lift Saints to road win

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 20, 2013 1:48 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Southern Wayne felt fortunate walking out Charles B. Aycock's gym with its first Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference victory of the season Thursday evening.

Charles B. Aycock wondered what could have been.

A late turnover and Zaria Atkins' two clutch free throws helped the Saints escape the Golden Falcons, 38-34. Atkins collected a team-high 13 points for Southern Wayne, which was held to its second-lowest offensive output of the year.

"We were flat and they were ready for us, they really were," SW head coach Ricky Lofton said. "But our girls sucked it up at the end and made plays when we needed to make plays, that was the biggest thing. (We knew) the team who executed at the end would win the ballgame.

"There are going to be some ballgames like this and we needed it."

Aycock led 10-7 after one quarter, but didn't hit another field goal for 18-plus minutes. The dry spell spanned the latter stages of the first quarter, and the entire second and third quarters.

Myleah Jones' offensive putback just 28 seconds into the final period ended the dry spell. Jones just missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds on the night.

The Saints (8-1 overall, 1-0 ECC) grabbed their biggest lead, 28-18, on Lyric Seaberry's short jumper off of Faith Gurley's assist early in the final period.

Aycock (5-7, 1-1) slowly whittled the deficit. Ashley Darden's layup off of Jones' assist closed the gap to 34-30. Jones' two free throws and Conner Vinson's bank shot pulled the Golden Falcons to within 36-34 as the clock ticked under one minute to play in regulation.

The Saints committed a backcourt violation with 16.2 seconds to go.

The Golden Falcons called timeout, drew a play up in the huddle, but couldn't execute it when they returned to the court. The possession resulted in a turnover, which led to Atkins' game-sealing free throws with 5.0 seconds to go.

"We were trying to get a kick into the corner, get Myleah go down and seal, and have Ashley kick back out for a shot in the short corner," CBA head coach Ryan Wells said. "Ashley had good position. We're going to learn to execute together when we draw something up. It was two juniors trying to make a play that didn't turn out."

Sharonne Maultsby added eight points for the Saints, who play host to county foe Goldsboro today. Keajah Wilson contributed six points and four rebounds.

Taylor Daniels pumped in a game-high 16 points for C.B. Aycock.