East Mecklenburg 35 – Rocky River 47
The Lady Ravens all 7 players deep played a spirited contest against the Eagles from East Mecklenburg. The girls hustled, scratched and clawed their way to a 12 point Southwestern 4A Conference victory.
In the first period, the home team jumped out to a 14-8 lead on the back of Emma Lockley and Sophie Dean who both connected on key 3-point jump shots. A good job of rebounding under the boards at both ends was done by Delayzha Dixon and Morgan Graves.
In the second period, the two teams fought a tight defensive battle and both clubs missed on a number of scoring opportunities. Dixon began to get into the flow of the game offensively to give the Lady Ravens with a 21-17 advantage.
During the third period, Rocky River opened up the basketball game behind good sharp shooting from Lockley who scored 9 points for the Ravens. The team also applied more pressure defensively to outscore the Eagles 17-7 to open up a comfortable 38-24 lead going into the final period. Dixon also stepped up to compliment the scoring.
In the fourth period the Eagles scored 11 points to the Ravens 9. However, with the Ravens leading throughout the contest and controlling the third period it was not enough to overtake the Ravens.
Lockley led all scorers with 17 points, Dixon added 16, Dean contributed 9 for the Ravens in the victory. While Zakiya Parnell led the Eagles with 9 points and Jada Stamfard had 8 points in the loss.
Rocky River 53- Porter Ridge 31
The Lady Ravens went on the road to play the Pirates in a Southwestern 4A Conference match-up on Friday night.
In the first half, the Ravens outscored the Pirates 25-18 primarily on the shooting of senior Delayzha Dixon who scored 11 points to lead the charge. The Ravens played at a fast tempo and applied a solid man-to-man defense making the correct match-ups count to their advantage. Also, with only 7 players, they are 7 deep in talent giving them an advantage over teams who may have 10-12 players. The coaches rotate the players often depending upon game situations to get the best match-ups. This reality gives all the players a good amount of playing time gaining valuable experience. The down side is the team better be in condition to put in the extra minutes.
In the third frame, Dixon continued her offensive presence by dominating the scoring in the period with 8 additional points. She scored on steal and lay-up, a short 9 foot jumper, a 3-pointer and went 1-1 from the free-throw line after being fouled to complete a 4 point play. Meanwhile, Sophie Dean added a nice 3-pointer from the corner to give the Ravens a 35-21 lead. She also stole an errant pass and drove to the basket, was fouled and landed 1-2 free throws. By the time the period ended the Ravens increased their lead to a comfortable 41-21 advantage.
In the final period, Dixon had to leave the game and watch from the bench with 7:00 minutes remaining. Her injury was not serious, however, she has been wearing a knee brace and Coach Amber Neely decided it was best to have her rest.
With 5:59 remaining, Emma Lockley, Amani Womack, Morgan Graves, and Summer Washington took control of the period and game. While Angel Stevenson played hard and made a solid contribution. Lockley led offensively scoring 7 points, Womack added 4, Graves 2 to discourage the Pirates from any kind of comeback. The Ravens outscored the Pirates 13-10 to actually increase their lead.
The games leading scorer was Dixon with 19, Lockley 15, Womack 7 led the scoring for the Ravens in the victory. While Jyana Salton had 13 points for the Pirates.
