West Craven runs past Havelock in tournament
VANCEBORO — Jamie Cherry stepped back and drained her first shot attempt of the game, a 3-pointer on West Craven’s first possession.
It was just the beginning of the Eagles’ 66-39 rout of Havelock in Wednesday’s semifinals of the Coastal 3A Conference girls’ basketball tournament in Vanceboro.
“This is a big rivalry, it’s Havelock and West Craven,” said West Craven coach David Fernandez. “They know us and we know them. It was kind of a want-to game. I challenged them to focus and take care of their responsibilities and have a little chip on their shoulder, that they want the game from the start.”
Cherry went on to score 23 points and total nine steals, as the undefeated Eagles (25-0) advance to play host to South Central in Friday’s championship game.
“I just wanted to come out and play hard, especially on defense, and create steals because defense turns to offense,” Cherry said. “I wanted to pick it up on defense and give my teammates opportunities to score.”
West Craven beat the defending conference and state champions twice this season. The Eagles will play for their first conference title since 1997.
But Fernandez knows how difficult it is to beat a team three times in one season.
“They know what we are going to do and we know what they are going to do,” he said, “Now it just comes down to doing the little things, the 50-50 balls, who’s going to scramble around and get the loose balls. We are going to have to go out and take it.”
West Craven took advantage of Havelock’s uncharacteristic miscues. The Rams went 11 of 28 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over 36 times.
The Eagles ended the second quarter on an 11-0 run to build a 37-21 halftime advantage. They opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run.
Junior Nishedra Brown tallied 15 points, four rebounds and five steals for West Craven, while sophomore Kaylee Koeperich notched 10 points and seven boards. Khadijah Bryant scored eight and Destinee McDougle pulled down nine rebounds.
The Eagles had 20 steals and 36 rebounds.
“I think this is a great win for us,” Cherry said. “Our big thing, going into this game, was to play hard and take what they gave us. We knew that Havelock wanted to come in and beat us, but we had the mindset that we wanted to be a championship team.”
LaShonda Prichard posted 12 points and seven rebounds for fourth-seed Havelock (15-8). Shakina Dyer added seven.
Havelock is next scheduled to play D.H. Conley at 4:30 p.m. Friday at West Craven High School. Havelock and D.H. Conley finished in tie for third place in the Coastal 3A Conference, and the winner will enter the playoffs at the No. 3 seed, while the losing team will be the fourth seed.
Boxscore
Havelock 10 11 5 13 — 39
West Craven 18 19 18 11 — 66
Havelock (39) - LaShonda Prichard 12, Ngozi Nix 2, Kierra Fleming 2, Natalie Johnson 4, Shakina Dyer 7, Apriel Barrette 2, Brianna Jones 3, Iesha Cooper 3, Jalisa Wilson 2, Sheena George 2.
West Craven (66) - Jamie Cherry 23, Destinee McDougle 2, Khadijah Bryant 8, Kaylee Koeperich 10, Nishedra Brown 15, Jasmine Raynor 2, Teajae Williams 3, Wright 2, No. 45 1.
