Familiar Finishes: Gryphons, Knights advance to Big East girls' finals

Telegram photo / Adam Jennings / Sports Writer
Rocky Mount High guard Michelle Gainey, front, drives to the basket against Nash Central guard Michaela Nelms on Wednesday during the Big East Conference tournament second-round game at Wilson Fike High School.

Telegram photo / Adam Jennings / Sports Writer
Rocky Mount High forward Natalya Cannie, center, drives to the basket against Nash Central on Wednesday during the Big East Conference tournament second-round game at Wilson Fike High School.

WILSON – Nash Central’s deficit kept growing. And growing. And growing.

Bulldogs coach Terri Cash took her first timeout of Wednesday’s Big East tournament semifinal with just 1:49 gone and Rocky Mount High leading, 8-0.

The Gryphons’ lead ballooned further.

Natalya Cannie scored on a layup. Shelby Meeks knocked down a corner 3. Michelle Gainey hit one free throw. Keyanna Spivey scored in transition, and Meeks drained a 3 from the wing.

By the time Michaela Nelms scored Nash Central’s first points with 2:35 left in the first period, Rocky Mount High had built a 19-0 lead.

Nash Central fought back to draw within five in the fourth quarter, but the Gryphons’ fast start proved too much to overcome for the Bulldogs in Rocky Mount High’s 66-54 win at Wilson Fike’s gym.

“Coming in, we knew we had to do everything right,” Spivey said. “We couldn’t have our usual missteps. We had to come out and jump on them.”

The Gryphons advanced to Friday’s Big East conference tournament championship game against Northern Nash.

Spivey led all scorers with 28 points, and her ability to score quickly and finish in traffic against Nash Central’s full-court pressure rendered the Bulldogs’ defense largely ineffective.

Natalya Cannie scored 13, and Shelby Meeks added 12 for the Gryphons, all in the first quarter on four 3-pointers.

Michaela Nelms led four Nash Central players in double figures with 13, though she and Robbi Allen left the game late with calf cramps. Nelms had a brief scare, as she held the same knee in which she tore her ACL last season for several possessions before crumbling to the floor in pain with less than two minutes remaining.

“You always hope to get out to a start like that,” Gryphons coach Pam Gainey said. “… I thought we played hard and played together from the beginning (Wednesday), and that was the result.”

The Gryphons roaring to a big lead against Nash Central was, after all, nothing new this season. Rocky Mount High led, 14-0, after one quarter and by 29 at halftime in a Nash County Christmas Tournament game on Dec. 17. Gainey’s team won that game, 53-31.

To its credit, Nash Central slowly but surely grew into Wednesday’s game.

After Meeks’ 3 for a 19-0 advantage, the Bulldogs responded with a 16-5 run to force Gainey to take a timeout with 6:25 left in the second quarter. Rocky Mount High led by 12 at the break, though the Bulldogs had to feel fortunate to be that close.

“We just didn’t execute our game plan on both ends of the floor,” Cash said. “I can live with those four 3s (from Meeks) because they didn’t hurt us with that the rest of the game. But (Spivey) had it too easy inside, and we fell in love with the 3 on offense.”

Nash Central (20-4 overall) opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run to close within six – the closest it had been since Rocky Mount High (13-8) led, 6-0, and Gainey took a full timeout at the 4:06 mark.

Spivey emerged from the timeout and gathered Michelle Gainey, Jarneese Carey, Cannie and Meeks, and offered advice just as it seemed as the Gryphons’ big lead was going to waste.

“I just told them we had to remember what had helped us play so well in the first half, and that was defense,” Spivey said. “If we did that, we were going to be fine, because we knew we could get stops.”

Nash Central pulled to within four at 43-39 with 1:57 remaining in the third on Myia Spivey’s 3 from the corner, but Spivey and Cannie ended the period with two layups in transition to give the Gryphons a bit of breathing room.

“Keyanna and Natalya, they were huge for us,” Gainey said. “We didn’t really need to look elsewhere because they were so effective in the paint.”

When Nelms again pulled Nash Central within five in the fourth quarter at 55-50, it was Cannie and Spivey who answered.

Cannie dropped in a layup off an assist from Spivey, and Spivey converted a 3-point play with 1:57 to go for a 60-50 lead and, for all intents and purposes, a berth in the championship game.

“I really commend our girls for coming out the way they did and playing the game we wanted to play,” Gainey said. “We dictated early on both ends, but now the challenge is playing all four quarters.”

Fourth-seeded Rocky Mount High was in good shape for an at-large state tournament bid in 3-A prior to Wednesday, and the victory over Nash Central will only solidify its position. Nash Central, the regular season conference champions after a 9-1 finish in Big East play, will have to wait to see their first-round state playoffs opponent.

By FOSTER LANDER

Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Wednesday, February 17, 2016