There were rumors going around four years ago of this 8th grade kid that was going to basketball camps and had all the coaches woozy at what they were seeing. There was this girl who could dribble and shoot with the best of the boys and she was going to start her ninth grade year at Rocky Mount. All those hopes and dreams were dashed as while attending one of those camps she blew out her knee and had to sit an entire year.
Now a sophomore in her very first game she was timid on her knee not trusting that she could really let it all out. Despite that she scored 13 points in her first varsity game and would average nearly 15 that year. By her junior year all the fear of a wobbly knee gone her average ballooned to 22 and by her senior year 27 per contest.
When you look at the basketball career of J'Kyra Brown points per game is not her most important stat. There is always a controversy about the term Most Valuable player. My concept is if she wasn't there what would the team do. We all saw what a MVP was this year that on that night at Hunt when J'Kyra went down so did the hopes of the Lady Gryphons in 2013. During her absence or in some cases her limited court time the Gryphons not only lost that Hunt game but went down at Nash Central, Southern Nash and Fike was about to get their turn whipping up on the Gryphons until J'Kyra came in.
The last leg of her high school basketball career she had to lug this extended knee brace which will make a 4.5 runner in the forty take at least 5 seconds to maneuver. Slower and yet still a scoring machine and surely Northern Nash will be glad to never have to play again.
But J'Kyra is not about scoring, She tries to get everyone involved in the offense but many times her team mates would say why should I shoot when we have J'Kyra can do it better? I think she is a natural shooting guard but he is able to handle the ball well enough that she can play the point. She is tall enough in the high school level that she can rebound with the best of them. Up until her latest knee injury she could defend the other teams best player.
J'Kyra is one of those players that makes everyone around her better. If the truth be told both Nash Central and Northern were better teams just because in order to compete with her they had to be better. We as fans have had a three year run that you needed to be in the gym at tip time of the girls game to watch J'Kyra and not wait until halftime so you could be there to watch the boys.
I suspect there will be many homes games in Greenville (ECU) next year that there will be a group from Rocky Mount there just to watch J'Kyra. The funny thing is what we have seen for three years we don't know what it could have been if she didn't have that dreaded injury as a freshman and the last month of her senior year.
There are two banners hanging in the rafters at Rocky Mount which any team that comes into gym can stare at those greats of the past. They hang in the rafters because of what they did after they left Rocky Mount. I think there is room for one more. I hope that as J'Kyra Brown moves on to ECU that she can get healthy and play at that level up to her potential.
You have to give credit to her parents. J'Kyra is well rounded that team comes first, she is polite and not the center of the world off the court. It has been a pleasure to watch this treasure both on and off the court. I mean this with all sincerity if you didn't see J'Kyra Brown play you may have missed the the best basketball player from Rocky Mount High school since Phil Ford. See Next Year J'Kyra!
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Run Of Greatness
Rocky Mount High's Alexander Knight lost in the state championship match at 145 pounds 4-2 in overtime to finish second today in the NCHSAA State Wrestling Championships. It was only Knight's second lost all season
I use to have this argument with the late Charles Alston all the time. Charles loved the fact that Rocky Mount High was a 4-A school. He loved all those State Championship banners had 4-A Champs on them. I told him that the only important words on any banner was State Champs and it would not matter if it said 1-A.
Rocky Mount High will be making their 4th consecutive trip to the 3-A Eastern Regional next Friday and I don't hear anyone complaining. Mike Gainey has built this basketball program into almost Rock Star status. Just Wednesday night after winning game two Gainey loaded up his Gryphons for the trip to Northern Nash to root on the girls against the Lady Knights. Once the Gryphon fans saw the team down at the stage end a roar erupted of excitement that the Gryphons were in the house. Not one Northern fan booed them whether out of respect for the defending State Champs or the shock that Elvis was in the house. That Saturday night every year when the brackets come out everyone looks to see whether they are lined up in Rocky Mount's bracket.
During this four year run to this point Rocky Mount has played 12 sectional games. How important is winning the conference title and a really good over all record? Rocky Mount has played 11 of those games in their own gym. The average margin of victory has been 24 points. The very first game of this four year run against Jacksonville in 2010 was the closes 64-54. The lone road game was in 2011 in the second game had to travel to Southern Wayne and come home with a 77-73 win. It helps playing at home in the playoffs.
The Gryphons are 4-1 in the Regional winning both games in 2010 by a total of four points. 65-62 over Northern Guilford and 83-82 over NE Guilford in overtime. 2012 two victories by 20 and 15. Their two State Titles 84-79 and 68-54.
After last night Rocky Mount as far as polls are concern is the top team left as the #1 team Concord fell. Next week in Fayetteville Rocky Mount will play West Craven a team that has fallen to the Gryphons all three years heading up to next Friday. 2010 in the second round at RM the Gryphons won 94-66. 2011 in RM the sectional final 101-85 and in the Regional Semi last year 73-53. You know the coaching staff at WC will not have any problem at all getting the Eagles focused for next Friday. They have got to be tired of Rocky Mount and will do everything to finally beat the Gryphons.
Their lone loss in this run was in the 2011 semi's at Fayetteville to South Central 70-67.Since 2010 Rocky Mount is 18- 1 in the playoffs. This has been a great run Mike Gainey has put together and we all hope the run continues but there is one thing about playoffs. It can end so quickly.
Next week's games in Fayetteville will have Webb High featuring a UNC recruit playing Eastern Alamance. Rocky Mount and West Craven. Out west Hunter Huss of Gastonia will meet up with another Gastonia school in Ashbrook. Statesville will play Harding University.
The Gryphons are no lock to make it to Raleigh. They will have to be ready. Rocky Mount now has the target on their back that Coach K at Duke and Roy at UNC always talk about. They get the supreme effort from everyone that beats them. The only way to counter another teams supreme effort is to play your very best. If the Gryphons do that we all should be happy win or lose
I use to have this argument with the late Charles Alston all the time. Charles loved the fact that Rocky Mount High was a 4-A school. He loved all those State Championship banners had 4-A Champs on them. I told him that the only important words on any banner was State Champs and it would not matter if it said 1-A.
Rocky Mount High will be making their 4th consecutive trip to the 3-A Eastern Regional next Friday and I don't hear anyone complaining. Mike Gainey has built this basketball program into almost Rock Star status. Just Wednesday night after winning game two Gainey loaded up his Gryphons for the trip to Northern Nash to root on the girls against the Lady Knights. Once the Gryphon fans saw the team down at the stage end a roar erupted of excitement that the Gryphons were in the house. Not one Northern fan booed them whether out of respect for the defending State Champs or the shock that Elvis was in the house. That Saturday night every year when the brackets come out everyone looks to see whether they are lined up in Rocky Mount's bracket.
During this four year run to this point Rocky Mount has played 12 sectional games. How important is winning the conference title and a really good over all record? Rocky Mount has played 11 of those games in their own gym. The average margin of victory has been 24 points. The very first game of this four year run against Jacksonville in 2010 was the closes 64-54. The lone road game was in 2011 in the second game had to travel to Southern Wayne and come home with a 77-73 win. It helps playing at home in the playoffs.
The Gryphons are 4-1 in the Regional winning both games in 2010 by a total of four points. 65-62 over Northern Guilford and 83-82 over NE Guilford in overtime. 2012 two victories by 20 and 15. Their two State Titles 84-79 and 68-54.
After last night Rocky Mount as far as polls are concern is the top team left as the #1 team Concord fell. Next week in Fayetteville Rocky Mount will play West Craven a team that has fallen to the Gryphons all three years heading up to next Friday. 2010 in the second round at RM the Gryphons won 94-66. 2011 in RM the sectional final 101-85 and in the Regional Semi last year 73-53. You know the coaching staff at WC will not have any problem at all getting the Eagles focused for next Friday. They have got to be tired of Rocky Mount and will do everything to finally beat the Gryphons.
Their lone loss in this run was in the 2011 semi's at Fayetteville to South Central 70-67.Since 2010 Rocky Mount is 18- 1 in the playoffs. This has been a great run Mike Gainey has put together and we all hope the run continues but there is one thing about playoffs. It can end so quickly.
Next week's games in Fayetteville will have Webb High featuring a UNC recruit playing Eastern Alamance. Rocky Mount and West Craven. Out west Hunter Huss of Gastonia will meet up with another Gastonia school in Ashbrook. Statesville will play Harding University.
The Gryphons are no lock to make it to Raleigh. They will have to be ready. Rocky Mount now has the target on their back that Coach K at Duke and Roy at UNC always talk about. They get the supreme effort from everyone that beats them. The only way to counter another teams supreme effort is to play your very best. If the Gryphons do that we all should be happy win or lose
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