By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
By BRIAN HAINES
Sports Writer
WILLIAMSTON — Two of the Four Rivers Conference brightest stars clashed once again as Katie Paschal and her Tigers battled Quinyotta Pettaway and the Pirates for the fourth time this season, and like the previous three meetings, Paschal’s squad stood victorious when the final buzzer sounded on Wednesday in Williamston.
Paschal, who scored the game-winning, buzzer-beating layup to top Perquimans in the team’s second meeting of the season, did not need such theatrics on Wednesday as she got a strong peformance from her supporting cast to lead Williamston to a 60-50 victory and into the third round of the NCSHAA 1-A playoffs.
The win improves the top-seeded Tigers record to a perfect 26-0 as they head into their next playoff game against Southwest Onslow (16-4), the top seed from the Coastal Plains Conference Friday at home.
“Anytime you have to play a team four times it’s very tough,” Williamston coach Hughes Barber said. “We are so familiar with each other at this point, it’s hard to show something new that they havn’t seen. I’m just glad we got out of here with a win.”
Paschal, who is the state’s top scorer with a 33.2 points per game average, posted 37 points and pulled down nine boards, while Pettaway, the state’s leading rebounder with a 15.8 boards per game average, tallied 22 points for the fourth-seeded Pirates.
Paschal also eclipsed the 3,000 career point mark, making her the sixth female player in North Carolina history to do so. The future East Carolina Pirate’s 37-point effort puts her career point total 3,03, which is fifth all-time and just seven points away from sole possession of the fourth spot.
The scoring wasn’t so hot for either team in the first quarter, as both squads looked tight in the first eight minutes of the game as Williamston took an 8-7 lead into the second quarter.
Paschal shouldered the offensive load in the second quarter where she hit three three-pointers and scored 14 of the team’s 16 second-quarter points to head into halftime holding on to a 24-18 lead.
While Paschal was putting the points on the board, it was a total team effort on defense that kept Pettaway and her crew from getting hot.
Post players Cassie Harrell and Charnell Jones were among two of several Tigers that came up big on the defensive end against Pettaway, keeping the Pirates star center from taking over the game.
“The goal with (Pettaway) is to make her catch the ball as far away from the basket as we can, we want to keep her 15 to 20 feet way from the basket,” Barber said. “If she catches eight feet from the basket you can just hang it up.”
Williamston didn’t pull away from Perquimans until it got the same kind of balance on the other side of the ball in the third quarter.
For the second straight game Williamston came out of halftime on fire, and after Courtney Wynn scored five straight points the Tigers took a 29-20 lead.
In the first half Wililamston had only three players in the scoring column, but in the third quarter seven Tigers recorded points as they out-scored the Pirates 21-10.
“We just started shooting the ball better,” Barber said. “In the first half we were playing good defense and playing good basketball and getting open shots, we just weren’t hitting them.
Wynn, a sophomore, finished the game with fiue points and a team-high 10 rebounds, while Harrell added three points. Sophomore point guard Zakkeya Morris dished out a team-high five asists to go along her four points.
Perquimans 7 11 10 22 — 50
Williamston 8 16 21 15 — 60
Pirates (50)
Linton 2, Quinyotta Pettaway 22, Lyons 8, Wood, Sha’niqua Gray 11, Breann Fields 4.
Tigers (60)
Katie Paschal 37, Dasia Moore 3, Harrell 3, WYnn 5, Norfleet 2, Morris 4, Jones 4.