By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
THOMASVILLE ó Salisbury’s Bubbles Phifer swished a shot from halfcourt. Teammates Ayanna Holmes and Shi-Heria Shipp went off WNBA-style in amazing bursts of athleticism.
Still, girls basketball games ó even games between elite teams ó usually come down to the unguarded, straight-on 15-footers that follow personal fouls.
Top-ranked East Davidson can flat-out shoot free throws, and the Golden Eagles used steely nerves to hold off Salisbury 52-46 on Tuesday.
The score was identical to the first meeting of the CCC powers in Salisbury.
“There’s not much anyone can say,” Phifer offered with a sigh. “They made free throws. That’s how you win ballgames.”
East Davidson (19-0, 9-0) was 13-for-14 at the line in the fourth quarter. With a lot riding on every shot, Alyssa Cutshaw and Stacy Hicks both went 4-for-4 and Anna Freeman was 3-for-3. Elizabeth Merritt, who actually missed one, might be running laps around the gym today.
“Every open gym we’ve got to make 50, and now the free-throw line is our friend,” said Freeman, a senior who piled up 20 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and four blocks.
Free throws were definitely Salisbury’s enemy.
The Hornets were 4-for-10 from the stripe in the second half.
“When you go on the road, you’ve got to do the little things, and that means making free throws and executing the offense,” Salisbury coach Andrew Mitchell said. “We didn’t do either one.”
Phifer and Shipp, who had a first-quarter block against Freeman, scored 12 points each for the second-ranked Hornets (15-2, 6-2). Holmes and De’Rya Wylie added 10 apiece.
East Davidson’s passing and cutting carved up the Hornets for layups early. It was 13-7 after a quarter, and the Hornets stayed in catch-up mode most of the way.
Shipp rolled her right ankle in the first quarter ó a factor in her missing six of her seven first-half shots ó but a passionate Holmes kept the Hornets in it with three buckets. Salisbury had flurries on the offensive glass in the second quarter but couldn’t convert. East Davidson led 22-17 at halftime.
Salisbury pushed within a single point in the third quarter, but it had slipped behind by six before Phifer’s buzzer-beating 3 from halfcourt cut East Davidson’s lead to 32-29.
Salisbury came hard in the fourth quarter, and it was Shipp who carried the load.
Connecting inside and out, she scored eight straight Salisbury points. Her transition bucket with 5:41 remaining made it 35-35 ó the first tie all night. The last basket in her solo flurry cut East Davidson’s lead to 41-39 with 2:56 remaining, but she fouled out an instant later.
“I thought I had an easy steal, but I got called for a foul,” Shipp said. “It was tough because I was starting to feel it. I was thinking, ‘All right, we’re gonna win.’ ”
That whistle may have kept the Hornets from getting over the hump.
“Shipp and Phifer are great players,” East Davidson coach Terry Allmon said. “We just tried to hold them down as much as we could. I know it didn’t hurt my feelings any when Shipp fouled out.”
With Shipp gone, the Golden Eagles’ deadly foul-shooting took over. Cutshaw swished two free throws with 22 seconds left for a four-point lead, and Candace Fox blocked a desperate shot by Phifer with 12 seconds left to put it in the books.It was a tough loss for the Hornets on top of tragedy. Mitchell lost an uncle yesterday, and Wylie lost a grandmother a day earlier. The Hornets also were connected to N.C. State coach Kay Yow through Shayla Fields and Shayla’s father, Osborne, who is a Salisbury assistant.
“A lot of us had empty hearts tonight,” said Mitchell, who wore a pink shirt. “The girls played as hard as they could. That’s all I can ask.”
salisbury (46) ó Shipp 12, B. Phifer 12, Ay. Holmes 10, Wylie 10, Heilig 2, N. Phifer, Miller, As. Holmes, Rice.
east davidson (52) ó Freeman 20, Cutshaw 11, Hicks 10, Merritt 9, Fox 2, Grimsley, Turner.
Salisbury 7 10 12 17 ó 46
E. Davidson 13 9 10 20 ó 52