Gryphons Defend Home Turf

I am sure the JV players tonight had never played a game in front of that many people but the Northern /Rocky Mount JV's played the fourth quarter in front of a packed house as the JV game did not finish until 6.20pm or so.  The JV game was close enough down the stretch to get everyone in the mood for a pair of Titan girls basketball teams that went toe to toe against each other.  When all the blood was wiped up Rocky Mount had dropped Northern from the ranks of the unbeatens 59-52

Northern's 14 point victory over Rocky Mount in December Rocky Mount had J'kyra Brown and little else.  Tonight  little else stayed home as Alexus Cooper scored 19, Tia Hudgins,10, Carmen Richardson 5, Amani Kipp added 4 and Ty'ais Cooper added two to go along with 19 from J'Kyra Brown.

December Rocky Mount tried full court pressure which Northern had little trouble with but the tonight stuck mainly to a zone defense from the second quarter on and other than Alexus Hill not one of  the Lady Knights did much from the outside.  Complicating  Northern's effort Hill went down with less than two minutes remaining in the third with a hyper extended knee and did not play the fourth quarter but Rocky Mount already lead by six at that point.

Alexus Hill scored 12 was the leading Lady Knight scorer.  Jessica Lyons 11, Jasmine Griffin10 were the three double digit scorers for Northern.  December Northern out rebound Rocky Mount but the Gryphons win the rebounding battle 34-29 with J'Kyra Brown snatching 13 and Tia Hudgins 12 boards.  It is a team effort tonight as Rocky Mount ends the first round of conference play 5-0 and Northern with their first loss of the season is now 4-1 in the Big East.

You would suspect that a 77-73 nail biter between Northern and Rocky Mount boys would bring the roof down but a couple of hundred folks went home after the girls game and those  that stayed missed out on a great effort by Northern as most of the fans slept  or  didn't pay attention and missed a really good game.

It was weird as the crowd acted like they would normally do at a girls game waiting for the boys action.  It must have been they were all exhausted after the girls game and needed to rest  but Rocky Mount played on cruise control the entire game and at one point it was 67-66 Rocky Mount.  Northern lead 3-0 which after that 3-2 they never lead again but Rocky Mount never deliver a knockout punch to a much improved Northern squad.

The Gryphons can thank Levon Brutus for being the only player who knew they were playing Northern as he scored a career high 31 points to lead the way. Terrill Hilliard had 14 and they were the only double digit scorers.  Wesley Battle scored 18 with help from Lorenzo Wilkins 12. Northern committed 26 turnovers to 16 for Rocky Mount as it seemed when Rocky Mount needed to get the ball they did.

Terrill Hilliard did not play the last couple of minutes and for a few seconds with Donte Battle  sidelined it looked as Rocky Mount might be headed to the Nash Central game with two big men sidelined.  The word is Hilliard cramped up.  There was a moment in the girls game when J'Kyra Brown got twisted up and she play rather ginger for a while and everyone thought she had reinjured her knee but the word from J' was it was her ankle and not the knee.  Rocky Mount boys unbeaten in conference plays  starts the second go round playing Nash Central and whether they will have all hands on deck is up in the air.

Playoff Positioning Starts Tonight

Northern Nash comes to Rocky Mount tonight and the  feature game of the evening begins close to 6pm as the undefeated Lady Knights of Northern Nash take on the Lady Gryphons in the first of their two regular season  match ups with both teams clearly being head and shoulders better than anybody else in the conference.  If  either lose during the regular season in conference play it will probably be to each other.

They have already met during the Nash County Holiday Tournament and by the fourth quarter Northern had established the inside and force Rocky Mount to shoot outside and they didn't make much outside of ten feet.  It is clear that Northern can go ten deep and the tenth player is as solid as the first player.  Rocky Mount has the best player on the court in J'Kyra Brown and her main helper Tia Hudgins will also need Alexus Cooper and Carmen Richardson to step up their play tonight to make this a game.  Home is their best advantage tonight.

The winner will be in the lead after the first cycle of conference games  and if either of these two teams want to get to the Regional or further the easiest way there is home games in the sectionals and the conference champ has the best chance getting two or more at home while the #2 may only get the first round at home.  Luck helps out along the way and  if teams with higher seating get knocked out then that helps getting more home games as long as you are not victim of the upset.  You know Rocky Mount boys got to play the sectional finals in Rocky Mount last year after a higher seed lost while Rocky Mount won their second round game on the road.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association is having the realignment meetings this week when teams that object to their new conference affiliation can scream, cry, holler foul or what ever the case may be  about the upcoming realignment in 2013.  I have heard nothing that anyone in the Big East is objecting to the new alignment so unless another 3-A conference would be realigned forcing changes it looks like the Big East is set as seven teams next go round.

It is my policy to not make any comments about any athlete who might get charged for any crime but I do want to say this.  I understand they have caught the four teenage boys that vandalized Faith Christian.