While all eyes were on the recent Carolina vs Duke rivalry, in Rocky Mount there was another rivalry to keep an eye on – Faith Christian v. Rocky Mount. Just like how Carolina and Duke are separated by mere miles, Rocky Mount Academy and Faith Christian are even closer – literally in each other’s backyard. Their rivalry was taken to new heights recently when the girls basketball teams met on championship night of the CIC tournament at Faith Christian.
RMA got out to an early lead and they were able to keep it for much of the 1st quarter. Faith changed a couple of things and they were able to get some shots down. They eventually took the lead and it forced coach Johnston from RMA to call a time out.
In the 2nd half, there was a lot of back and forth. Both teams kept fouling and sending the other to the free throw line.
In the 4th quarter, Faith got the lead, but was unable to keep it due to putting RMA on the free throw line too many times. One of the things that helped secure the win for RMA was free throws. Coach Johnston said, “We’ve talked about free throws all year long and we haven’t been very good at them all year long, but we made a few of them at the right time.” Down the stretch, Faith made a few mistakes by turning the ball over and RMA was able to capitalize on them. In the end, Faith had a chance to take the game into overtime, but they were not able to get a shot to fall. RMA won 38-36.
Coach Johnston summed up the last few minutes of the game perfectly. “It was just a matter of who got lucky at the right time and whose basketball rolled in at the right time.” In the stretch when Faith was making mistakes, RMA’s defense took advantage. Coach Johnston said, “We’ve always been a defensive team. Any team that I’ve ever had, defense always comes first. We generate our offense by our defense.”
Coach Whitley from Faith Christian said that she was “proud of my girls – they battled really hard tonight.” It was definitely a hard fought game by both teams – a rivalry game that certainly delivered.
ENC Sports Review 