Lady Rebs take championship from Lakewood

Saturday afternoon saw the girls’ Carolina 1A championship basketball game between No. 3 Lakewood and No. 1 North Duplin, the regular season champs. After a tight first half, the Lady Rebels blew their lead open to take the 57-47 win and the conference championship.

Lakewood’s Jahmai Rich and North Duplin’s Tateyawna Faison squared off to start the game. A quick basket — just six seconds in — from Lilly Fulghum set the tone early to make it 2-0 for the regular season champs. Defensively, they also set the tone as they double-teamed Areona McKoy immediately.

Alexis Rhodes was sent to the line early for Lakewood, but couldn’t connect on either foul shot. Addy Higginbotham banked in a 3 to extend the Rebel lead to 5-0. Rhodes launched a triple attempt of her own at the other end and couldn’t connect, keeping Lakewood scoreless nearly two minutes into the game. Rhodes finally connected on a 3 to get them on the board.

North Duplin’s double-team of the standout Leopard freshman was doing its job as she touched the ball very few times early. A’miyah Smith went for a fast break layup but was denied on a block from the Rebels. Kiyah Braxon couldn’t find the bottom of the net on a pair of foul shots, keeping Lakewood at just three points.

Higginbotham was called for a travel with 4:38 left in the first, giving the ball back to Lakewood who was desperately trying to get McKoy involved anyway that they could. Abby Rose and Fulghum were stuck to her hip like they were glued on, which allowed other scorers for the Lady Leopards to shine. Rhodes hit a slow roller from the left side after McKoy had stopped a fast break, tying the game at five and causing North Duplin to call a timeout.

Higginbotham took a charge on a Lakewood fast break to keep the score tied south of four minutes into the first quarter. Fulghum fed Faison just over the outstretched hand of Rich to give the lengthy center a basket and Rose collected a rebound from Maggie Brown to get the put-back layup to go up 9-5. McKoy buried a triple to bring it within one, but the Lady Rebels were there once more for a fast break to extend it again.

A wide-open 3 from Fulghum was no good, and Faison got the block on Lakewood’s Trinity Bell to negate the returning possession. The Rebels came up empty, too, and fouled McKoy on a layup attempt. She made the original shot but couldn’t sink the free throw. North Duplin bobbled the rebound, sending it out of bounds with 1:37 left in the opening period to give it back to Lakewood.

Higginbotham was called for the charge against Karima Freeman on a fast break as smart, technical basketball came from both teams in the well-matched face-off. She was then called for a block on a McKoy fast break with 37 seconds to play in the quarter, but McKoy missed both free throws.

North Duplin carried the 11-10 lead into the second quarter of action.

Rose grabbed the first point of the second quarter on a foul shot, and Faison added one more to make it a 13-10 lead for the Lady Rebels. She added a layup shortly after to extend it further.

Rhodes opened the scoring for Lakewood on an assist from McKoy after a steal and fast break to move it to a 15-12 score. While the double team of McKoy was no longer there, the defensive pressure from Fulghum constantly being in her face was.

McKoy sank a fast break layup through contact from Rose and buried the foul shot to give the ‘visiting’ Leopards the 17-15 lead on the scoreboard. The freshman phenom stole the ensuing inbound pass and made one of the two foul shots after being hacked on her jumper. Rich collected a rebound and attempted the put-back, but was once again fouled. With 5:10 to play in the half, North Duplin had amassed four fouls in the second quarter as Lakewood had taken the 19-15 lead.

A massive momentum swing had taken place by this point, as the North Duplin crowd had fallen silent during Lakewood’s 9-4 run before Higginbotham hit a wide-open 3 to close the gap to two. Brown tied the game south of four minutes left in the half with a one-footed, one-handed shot in the middle of the key.

Lakewood had retaken the 21-19 lead, but a Faison foul shot made it a 21-20 advantage for the Leopards.

Both teams had employed full-court defenses against each other at this point, but Lakewood’s was more effective on both sides. Defensively, the Leopards were forcing the Lady Rebels into bad decision-making and keeping them from advancing the ball past half-court in a timely fashion. Offensively, they utilized a well-executed press breaker to get themselves past half-court quickly.

Lakewood had now worked itself into foul trouble when Rhodes picked up the team’s fifth foul with 1:25 left in the opening half to give Faison another two free throws, but she couldn’t sink either. The Rebels grabbed their fifth on a foul by Fulghum as McKoy was going for a fast break layup. The Leopard was also no good her foul shot, but her layup was good before that to make it a 25-20 game. Eva Quintanilla sank her first basket to make it 25-22.

A rebound from Quintanilla got it to Faison, who tied the game at 25-all with less than a minute to play. Higginbotham was tripped by McKoy on incidental contact at half court with .2 seconds left in the second quarter, giving her another set of free throws. She sank one to make it a 26-25 lead for North Duplin.

Rose fed Higginbotham for the first points in the third, growing the lead even further. McKoy returned fire on a jumper across the key at the foul line. Rich made a layup through the contact from Brown to give Lakewood the 30-28 lead, but Faison tied it back up on a pair of free throws.

Higginbotham retook the lead for the Rebels on a triple as the clock moved close to four minutes left in the third. Brown added a wide-open layup on an inbound to make it a five-point lead. It was extended to seven, making it a 37-30 lead with under three minutes to play, as the momentum had fully swung back to North Duplin. Rose hit a jumper at the foul line to make it a nine-point lead before Lakewood signaled for the timeout.

Braxton sank a free throw before the Rebels added another layup to take the 10-point lead. Rose came away with a steal for the fast break layup to make it a 43-31 lead with just over a minute left in the third quarter. Faison extended it once more, sinking two more free throws.

The scoreboard showed a 46-31 lead for the Rebels as the teams went into the fourth.

Rhodes grabbed the first points of the fourth on a triple, assisted by McKoy, to cut the lead to 12. She added another to cut the lead to 46-37 as she had multiple open opportunities to start the final chapter of the championship tournament book.

McKoy added another pair on a set of free throws as the Leopards went on an 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter. Higginbotham finally got the Rebels on the board with a set of free throws to extend the lead back to nine.

Scoring all but stopped halfway through the final period, with neither team getting many baskets. Brown grabbed another bucket for North Duplin to make it an 11-point lead at 50-39, but Takiyah Carr splashed a triple to cut it back to eight.

With 2:44 to play, North Duplin held a nine-point advantage once again after McKoy hit a free throw to knock the Leopard deficit down by one. Rose pushed it back to double-digits with another pair of foul shows, making 54-43.

McKoy would grab a steal for the fast break basket to cut to a 55-47, but it was too little too late as there was under a minute left in the game. Rose was fouled with nine seconds to play, sinking both her free throws to push it back to a 10-point lead.

North Duplin took the 57-47 win and the Carolina 1A girls’ basketball championship with it.