Sports
Cape Fear girls basketball loses as Rocky Mount advances to NCHSAA 3A state championship – The Fayetteville Observer
SANFORD – Cape Fear girls basketball lost a 57-50 heartbreaker to Rocky Mount in the NCHSAA 3A East Regional championship on Saturday at Southern Lee.
Leading by five with just under five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the fourth-seeded Colts (25-5) saw the Gryphons (30-1) finish the game on a 14-2 run to clinch a spot in the 3A state championship against West championship West Rowan (30-0).
It’s Rocky Mount’s first state championship appearance in program history. Jayda Angel had a game-high 26 points to lead the Colts, who advanced to the regional final for the first time since 1989.
LIVE UPDATES:NCHSAA regional final scores: Live updates on Cape Fear-Rocky Mount, E.E. Smith-Northwood
Cape Fear led 48-43 before Rocky Mount mounted a comeback powered by freshman Kira Jones, who had 19 points, including 14 free throws. Jones scored 10 of her 12 points in the fourth quarter from the charity stripe, including the go-ahead freebies with 1:21 left.
“We had a couple turnovers – you can’t have those. With under a minute left in the game, you gotta be more secure and crisp offensively,” Cape Fear coach Brian Graham said. “That was the difference in the game.”
Paris Evans had a steal that led to a layup to make it 53-50 with 29 seconds left and Rocky Mount iced the game with free throws. Caroline Thiel, a Charlotte signee, had 17 points and Nyla Powell tallied 10 for the Gryphons.
Kayla Gage had eight points for Cape Fear, which trailed 29-18 at halftime before outscoring Rocky Mount 19-7 in the third quarter to take a one-point lead into the final period.
A string of turnovers and missed layups allowed the Gryphons to complete the comeback. Despite the loss, Cape Fear could return 10 of the 12 players on its roster.
“Right now I told them to soak it in and remember this,” Graham said.
“I guess I’ll get a little break before track starts to process what we did and the magnitude of what we did. It was just a great run for the girls.”
Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached at rbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on Twitter.