Monday, Jan. 25, 2010

Wild rally lifts Clayton

Clayton snaps out of its funk against Southeast Raleigh just in time to pull off a wild comeback and pull even in the race for the regular-season girls' title.

Clayton girls basketball coach Marlon Lee played a little mind game with his team last week and it paid off big-time Friday night, as his team stormed back to take to a 42-39 win over Greater Neuse 4-A Conference power Southeast Raleigh.

"We didn't play Tuesday and worked hard this week getting ready," Lee said. "The first time we played Southeast, it was ugly for us. We watched the film of that game. I took the film out, told my team it didn't even look like us, that it wasn't us in that game, smashed the film and threw it away.

"Of course, I had another copy to study, but I didn't tell them that."

Early on, however, the tactic didn't seem to take hold of the Comets.

"Then we played the same way the first three quarters tonight," Lee said. "But I told them that games are always won in the fourth quarter, that anything can happen.

"Our little half-court trap worked, the girls made some defensive plays and hit some shots."

Lee and his girls may have been the only ones thinking they could win after three quarters.

Southeast was in control and led 35-19 with just eight minutes left to play.

Clayton's sophomore point guard Latesha Williams hit a short jumper for the Comets, and Southeast turned the ball over seconds later and the wild fourth quarter was on.

Clayton went on an 18-0 run.

T'keyah Richardson hit two free throws to tie the score at 35 and Williams hit two more to put her team ahead with 2:18 to play.

Clayton took the lead for good, 42-39, when 6-foot-1 senior Marnikka Young swished a three-pointer from the corner with just eight seconds to play. Southeast got the ball into the frontcourt for a final shot that was contested by Williams and had no chance.

Young led the winners with 15 points, and Williams added 13.

"Latesha kept us in the game, helped us weather the storm, and stepped up big at the end, and Marnikka showed some real senior leadership, hitting the big shot," said Lee, who also cited the defensive play of Katina Moseley and Shaquira Hall.

Southeast also played the final 3:41 without three-year starting point guard Demesha Peebles, who injured her ankle and left the game.

Southeast coach Nicole Meyers hopes her team does not have to play long without Peebles.

"We were not composed in the fourth quarter, but the killer was losing our point guard, Demesha. She's our stabilizing force," said Meyers, who said that starter Brittany Holloway will handle the point for the Bulldogs while Peebles is out.

Holloway led the Bulldogs with 11, and she and Aprill McRae, who scored 10, are the team scoring leaders.

A Southeast win over Clayton would have all but clinched the conference title for the Bulldogs.

But now both teams are 7-1 in the league. Southeast is 12-3 overall, and Clayton is 16-2.

"We have to go extra hard," Lee said. "We've got control of our destiny in our hands now.

"We can win the conference, but we have to be ready every time."