By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
Speed kills.
That is one of the more popular sayings in sports, and when Williamston steps on the court to face Cape Hatteras in the fourth round of the NCHSAA 1-A playoffs tonight the speed of the game will no doubt play a major role in which team stays alive in the postseason.
On Monday, both Williamston coach Hughes Barber and Cape Hatteras coach Earl Fountain expressed preference for an up-tempo game when the 27-0 Tigers (Four Rivers) tip-off against the 18-5 Hurricanes (Tideland) tonight at 7 p.m.
“The strength of our team is our transition game,” Barber said. “We like to force turnovers and get out and run.”
The Hurricanes also like to apply heavy pressure on opposing teams in hopes of crafting an easy bucket.
“We play a good defense and that has really been the strength of our team,” Fountain said. “We press and we can play some zone, and we have really been successful with both.”
Fountain said his defensive preference depends on how well his team matches up with its opponents. His first inclination is to run, but if he feels his team will lose the track meet he has no problem pulling back on the reins.
“We just take a look at what we got going and who we are playing and scouting reports,” Fountain said. “The other night we played Jones Senior and played a total zone because of what our scouting reports determined.
“We like to play up-tempo but we are not the fastest team either; I’ll admit that. Against Jones we held the ball and worked the offense around to slow the tempo of the game. We are capable of doing that, but we prefer to get up-tempo.”
The Tigers would be more than happy to oblige Fountain’s preference for a fast-paced game.
“Tempo is very important, we want a high scoring game,” Barber said. “All year we have been scoring a lot of points and we want to keep it that way. The games we have been close to losing have been low scoring games. If we can force turnovers and get out and run I like our chances.”
Scoring shouldn’t be too much of a problem for either team being that both the Tigers and the Hurricanes each have prolific scoring seniors.
Williamston is led by future East Carolina Pirate Katie Paschal, whose scoring prowess has been well documented over her four years with the Tigers.
Paschal’s most recent outing ranks up their with some of her all-time great performances as she scored 44 points, x, x, to lead her team to a x-x win over Southwest Onslow to win the sectional championship.
That performance gave Paschal 3, 075 career points, which places her third on North Carolina’s all-time scoring list, and only seven points away from second place which is held by Cetera DeGraffenereid (Smoky Mountain, 2003-07). First place occupied by Danyel Parker, who has racked up 3,225 career point while playing at Clinton from 1986-89.
Cape Hatteras has not faced Williamston in over four years, but when asked what he knows about Tigers’ basketball the first thing Fountain said was, “Katie Paschal. That’s what everybody knows about them.”
Paschal leads the state in scoring with a 33.2 points per game average, and Fountain is aware that she has seen every junk defense since she was a freshman. The Cape Hatteras coach said that his team will just do its best to keep her from taking over.
“We will try and just contain her, you are not going to hold her. You just try to contain her and work with the other four players. You have to try and contain her and keep her below 30 points,” Fountain said. “We are just going to continue what we have been doing all year long and hope that it works. Four days is not enough time to go and change up your defense.”
The Hurricanes have their own star scorer in versatile guard/forward Paxton Gwin. The 5-10 senior is a career 1,000-point scorer and the key to the Cape Hatteras offense.
“How she goes is how we go,” Fountain said. “Shooting-wise, she is very capable. She has had a couple of 40-point games. She is good at putting points up, she is a really good defensive player and our best rebounder
If the two stars happen to cross each other out, then the game will be determined by role players. Both coaches expressed confidence in their supporting casts.
“Other teams have focused on (Gwin) a lot, but we have had other girls step up this year,” Fountain said. “I have four girls that at any time this year could have a 20-point ball game. So we can score points, our thing is to just try and contain teams with our defense.”
The Tigers have gotten tremendous play from their rotation as well. Sophomore point guard Zakkeya Morris has done a nice job navigating through other team’s presses and dishing off, while fellow sophomore Courtney Wynn has been strong on the defensive end of the court.
Frontcourt players such as Cassie Harrell, Shakira Norfleet and Charnell Jones have each contributed greatly throughout the course of the season and the playoffs.
Harrell has hit some big shots from time to time and provides a big presence on the glass, while Norfleet and Jones have been outstanding on defense.
While Paschal is no doubt the backbone of the team, the Tigers would not be in Greenville without the development of its underclassmen.
“They have definitely been huge,” Barber said. “The other night we played Southwest Onslow and (freshman) Dasia Moore really stepped up for us. Two of my starters are sophomores (Morris and Wynn) and I got six freshman on my roster and only one junior.
“I have been pleasantly surprised with a few of them, we have gotten some big shots in some big moments by some different players. Against Perquimans we were kind of up against the ropes and (freshman) Jo’neka Brown steps up and hits a few three-pointers. Last Friday night it was Dasia Moore stepping up, Charnell Jones has been improving all year … It’s been nice to see them improve.”
The winner of the Williamston-Cape Hatteras game will move on to face the winner of the South Robeson (23-4) – Rivermill Academy (31-4) Saturday night.