Warrior girls erase 11-point deficit, win 50-48

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on December 18, 2015 1:48 PM

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Thank goodness for numbers on jerseys.

Eastern Wayne twins Myesha Best and Nyesha Best took over the game and helped carry the Warriors to a 50-48 win over Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference foe New Bern on Thursday evening.

The Warriors found themselves down by 11 points with six minutes left in the third quarter as NB turned up the full-court pressure. Unable to cross half court, the Warriors looked for senior Naheria Hamilton to throw long passes to one of the twins.

It worked.

Nyesha caught a pass from Hamilton at half court, and drove the lane for a layup. Hamilton launched a pass to Nyesha for another scoring drive to the basket. The Warriors trailed the Bears, 41-38.

"Naheria put her trust in me," Nyesha said. "I couldn't let her down, and I had to step up."

Myesha drove the court, made a layup and drew a foul. Myesha clinched her fist in celebration, but an official called a charge on the speedy guard.

"I knew I had to suck it up and play hard," Myesha said. "I couldn't let my team down. They were counting on me. I just had to suck it up."

Hamilton threw a long pass to Nyesha, who ran the court and scored two more points. The Warriors led at 48-45.

New Bern senior Teana Lewis swished a 3-pointer and tied the game at 48-48 with 15 seconds remaining in regulation.

Junior Treycie Ford and sophomore Tammaria Smith each made one free throw to seal the win.

"I feel great," Myesha said. "I showed the team I could be the person they can count on when we're in trouble. If they need help, just call me, just say it."

"I feel awesome," Nyesha said. "I trust my team, and I know we can go all the way."

Nyesha ended the game with 19 points, and Myesha recorded 10 points. Hamilton and fellow senior Vivian Jackson had six points each. Ford had seven points.

"The Best twins came into a role this year where we lost all of our guards last year except for Treycie," EW head coach Phil Gray said. "They knew they were gonna have to play, and they stepped up big. They really stepped up big for us and played."

Eastern Wayne (3-2 overall, 1-1 ECC) visits Goldsboro tonight.