STORY -- EW girls @ Goldsboro

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 11, 2016 1:45 AM

• Print
• Email

Eastern Wayne 69, Goldsboro 52

* You want an up-tempo game?

Take on Eastern Wayne.

The Warriors seized a nine-point lead barely 1 1/2 minutes into their contest with county rival Goldsboro on Friday evening, and cruised to a 69-52 victory inside venerable Norvell T. Lee Gym.

"In a game like this it was great, was very pivotal," EW head coach Michael Gurganus said of his team's blistering start. "Any time your team comes out and shoots like that, that's a joy to watch as a coach.

"I wanted our intensity level to go. Obviously, you want that to go up every game. I want our defense to be better and I want us to attack more on offense...shoot more on offense."

Eastern Wayne coaxed Goldsboro into 21 turnovers and owned an 11-1 advantage from behind the 3-point arc.

Treycie Ford, one of the area's most-underrated players, and Nyesha Best combined to drain four 3-pointers during the Warriors' game-opening 13-4 run. The hot shooting cooled off, but the Cougars (2-4 overall) couldn't answer on the offensive end.

Goldsboro struggled to finish around the basket.

The speedy Warriors (6-0) grabbed the rebound, pushed the ball upcourt and converted -- at times -- uncontested layups as the Cougars struggled in transition.

"If it's there, I want to run," Gurganus said.

Nyesha Best pumped in a game-high 22 points for EW, followed by Myesha Best and Ford with 11 points apiece. Dejah Thompson wiped the boards for 14 rebounds.

Tziah Kelly knocked down 22 points for Goldsboro. Destiny Lucas added 11. Makayla Roberts contributed nine points, 15 rebounds and a game-high six blocked shots.

Ikenya King pulled down 16 rebounds and blocked three shots.