By By BRIAN HAINES
Sports Writer
GREENVILLE – A stifling press mixed with a balanced offensive attack helped propel Williamston past Cape Hatteras and into the NCHSAA 1-A East Regional finals as the Tigers blew by the Hurricanes 61-38 on Friday at J.H. Rose High School.
Once again, Katie Paschal led the attack as she racked up 27 points, three assists and three steals to extend Williamston’s winning streak to 28 games, improving the Tigers record on the year to 28-0.
“We built up a cushion early. We thought we could press this team. We thought we had a speed advantage and we came out and got some steals and some easy buckets,” Williamston coach Hughes Barber said. “Anytime you can shorten the floor and get layups we are going to try and do that.”
Paschal’s 27 points pushed her career total up to 3,102, placing her second on North Carolina’s all-time scoring list past Cetera DeGraffenreid (3,071.)
Paschal was happy with the accomplishment, but said her focus is on winning the state title.
“It’s great, but I’m not really concerned with it anymore,” Paschal said. “I got 3,000 (points) and now I’m just focused on winning.”
Aside from Paschal, Williamston got good play from sophomore point guard Zakkeya Morris who tallied 11 points and three steals.
Williamston forwards Cassie Harrell and Shakera Norfleet also made solid contributions in the paint on both ends of the court. Harrell scored five points while pulling down six boards, as Norfleet posted six points and six rebounds.
The Tigers jumped out to a 13-6 lead after the first quarter, and took a 27-12 lead late in the second after a Courtney Wynn three-point play capped off a 14-6 run.
Wynn finished the game with eight points
Cape Hatteras fought an uphill battle all night, and got behind the eightball early when their star forward Paxton Gwin got called for two fouls in the first four minutes of the game which put her on the pine for the remainder of the first quarter.
Gwin played at the start of the second, but picked up two more quick fouls and had a total of four with 6:28 left in the first half. Some of Paxton’s fouls were questionable, that elicited frustration from the fans and red, and elation from the ones in green.
With Paxton on the sideline for a majority of the first two quarters the Hurricanes failed to keep up with the high-scoring Tigers, and afer a Shakera Norfleet buzzer-beating put-back layup, went into halftime down 30-15.
“Her getting in foul trouble threw us all out of rhythm, it killed us,” Cape Hatteras coach Earl Fountain said. “It took what could have been a ball game, and took it away. We had no chance with her on the bench.”
Maggie Easley picked up the slack for the Hurricanes (18-6, Tideland) leading them with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Gwin tallied 10 points and five boards.
Barber said aside from applying heavy pressure, getting Gwin in foul trouble was part of his pre-game plan.
“Another big thing was getting (Gwin) in foul trouble early,” Barber said. “I told them from the get-go to attack her on the defensive end and drive at her … Things like that are something I wanted to do going in the game, and defensively keep pressure on them.”
Williamston will contend for the East Regional title today when it plays the winner of the Rivermill Academy-South Roberson matchup.
Cape Hatteras 6 9 12 11 — 38
Williamston 13 14 15 16 — 61
Hurricanes (38)
Ballance 4, Maggie Easley 14, Renteria 2, Paxton Gwin 10, Randall 8
Tigers (61)
Zakkeya Morris 11, Harrell 5, Jones 4, Wynn 8, Katie Paschal 27, Norfleet 6.