Spring Creek’s Aaliyah Kornegay, right, scrambles for a loose ball with a Beddingfield player. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Spring Creek senior center Heather Alexander gets a hand in the face of a Beddingfield player during opening-half action of their Neuse Six 2A game in “The Swamp” Tuesday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
Spring Creek’s Trinity Daniels (12) blocks a shot by a Beddingfield player. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
SEVEN SPRINGS — The opening quarter told the story.
Beddingfield applied a suffocating defense, which spearheaded an up-tempo pace and created an insurmountable 21-point lead.Spring Creek never recovered.
The Bruins exited “The Swamp” deadlocked in a three-way tie atop the Neuse Six 2A Conference with Goldsboro and Eastern Wayne after a 72-56 romp over the Gators.
“They are a good basketball team,” said SC head coach Paul Hayes, whose team committed 30 turnovers. “I thought we played hard for most of the game. The first quarter where we had a bunch of turnovers and gave up some easy ones really hurt.”
Beddingfield led 47-19 at halftime.
The Gators continued to work against a suffocating defense in the third quarter and watched the deficit balloon to 30 points.
Both coaches called upon their reserves to finish out the contest.
Spring Creek finally developed an offensive rhythm and outscored the Bruins 22-9 in the final eight minutes of action.
“After we settled in, we played better,” Hayes said. “As a team we need to be better at staying within ourselves and doing the little things. The would help out on the turnovers. All in all, I thought we played with good energy tonight.”
Junior center Heather Alexander notched a double-double — 10 points, 12 rebounds. Trinity Daniels provided 11 points and nine rebounds. Guard Kiarah Pearson contributed 10 points and four rebounds.
Aaliyah Kornegay stuffed her stat sheet with seven points and eight rebounds, including five on the offensive end. Sarah Kirby had six points and six rebounds, while Emily Williams collected five points and four rebounds.
Vanessa Duruttya tallied five points.
Spring Creek (6-10 overall, 1-3 Neuse Six 2A) tangles with North Johnston on Friday.
