ROCKINGHAM – The season started with them and ended with them. On Dec. 7, 2022, the Rockingham Middle School girls basketball team traveled to West Hoke Middle in Raeford for the Southeastern Middle School Athletic Conference opener. In that meeting, the Lady Rockets managed to outlast a late rally by the Lady Tigers to hold on to a 46-43 victory.
On Thursday, the two met once again. This time at Rockingham Middle and this time with the conference tournament title on the line. This meeting wasn’t quite the fourth-quarter nailbiter as the first, but it was an exciting conclusion to the season that ended with Rockingham claiming the 2023 conference title with a 32-20 home victory.
With the win, the Lady Rockets finished the season undefeated (11-0) under first-year head coach Wandesha Jackson.
“I am at a loss for words,” Wandesha Jackson said following the win. “This was the best game that they have played this year. They made me proud today.”
In the December meeting, point guard Madisen Jackson exited the game with an ankle injury less than two minutes after tipoff forcing the Lady Rockets to compete without one of their best players on the floor. Kaylan Parsons stepped up netting 15 points in the season opener.
The two eighth graders reversed roles in Thursday’s finale as Jackson was asked to step up with Parsons sidelined due to an injury in last week’s semifinal game against Carver Middle.
With her friend cheering her on from the bench, Jackson did just that. The eighth grader netted a game-high 14 points, hauled in 8 rebounds and recorded 4 steals in the championship game. That included scoring 9 straight points in the third quarter, which ultimately put the game out of reach.
“This game honestly felt the same as the first one because we were still missing a strong person,” shared Wandesha Jackson. “Madisen stepped it up in place of Kaylan just like Kaylan stepped it up for her in the first game. This team has always played for each other and that’s what they did today.”
In addition to scoring, Parsons’ absence also handicapped Rockingham’s strong rebounding game. Parsons, who had a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) in last week’s semifinal game, has led the team in rebounds in most of its outings this season. Much of the Lady Rockets’ success has come from turning those rebounds into fast break opportunities and second chance points.
Facing an athletic team with great size like West Hoke, Rockingham needed to fill that rebounding void as well. Enter Addison Butler.
Butler, who often comes in as relief for Parsons, got the starting call on Thursday and absolutely dominated the boards. Her 6-point, 8-rebound performance in the first half helped to derail a West Hoke run in the second quarter and keep the Lady Rockets ahead by double-digits at the break. She continued to be a strong presence in the paint forcing the Lady Tigers into attempting difficult shots and hauling in an impressive, game-high 14 rebounds.
“She turned it up,” Wandesha Jackson said of Butler’s performance. “She showed us a completely different side. We all went down to the locker room and gave her kudos. She stepped it up in place a Kaylan today and she went above and beyond. She killed it on the inside.”
Butler and teammate Kaniah Little combined for 22 rebounds, almost twice as many as West Hoke had as a team (13). Little, who has been a key contributor for Rockingham this season, also had a big day on Thursday. She scored eight of Rockingham’s first 10 points, helping to give the Lady Rockets a lead that they would never relinquish.
Little scored on a putback for the game’s first points after one minute of play. Moments later, she rebounded a West Hoke miss and passed the ball forward to an open Butler in the paint, who laid it in for a four-point advantage. West Hoke’s D’Asia Morrisey answered with a pair of free throws cutting the lead to two with 5:10 on the clock.
After a three-minute drought, Little dribbled through traffic and found the basket again with a layup. On West Hoke’s ensuing possession, Little stripped the ball away from the Lady Tigers and delivered it back to the hoop for two more with exactly one minute left in the opening quarter. Jackson connected on 1-of-2 from the free throw line with 3 seconds left giving the Lady Rockets a 10-2 lead after one complete.
Little added a free throw in the opening moments of the second quarter, but that’s when West Hoke came to life. Over the next three minutes, four different Lady Tigers contributed to an 8-0 run that forced Wandesha Jackson to call a timeout.
Alaura Yeager started the West Hoke run with a free throw. Elorah Hall and Aiyanna McDougald each added layups on back-to-back possessions bringing the score to 11-7 with 5:20 on the clock. Then Janiyah Leak swished through a trey cutting the lead to just 1 point with 4:20 left in the half.
Rockingham’s Za’Ryah Williams stopped the bleeding by turning a Butler rebound into a layup. Moments later, several players hit the floor in a battle for a loose ball, but it was Audicy Rush who emerged with possession. While still sitting on the ground, Rush pitched the ball out to Butler who was able to bank it in extending the lead back to 5 points with 2:30 remaining until the break.
Leak, who finished with a team-high 10 points for West Hoke, drove into the lane and connected on a beautiful floater in an effort to keep her team in the game.
After that, it was all Rockingham. Fourteen seconds later, Butler turned another rebound into two and Jackson added two layups for the final points of the half sending the Lady Rockets to the locker room with a 21-12 advantage.
Jackson’s 9-point third-quarter run started when she hauled in a West Hoke miss and ran coast-to-coast for an easy layup. Then teammate Erin Drumwright took the ball away for the Lady Tigers and passed it off to Jackson who was fouled on a shot attempt. She connected on 1-of-2, increasing the Rockingham advantage to 24-12 with 4:20 on the clock.
In the next two minutes, Jackson added two more layups, both on fast break opportunities, and a pair of free throws giving the Lady Rockets its largest lead of the game at 30-15 with 40.8 seconds left in the third quarter.
Leak continued to show off her shooting skills with another three-pointer with 22 seconds left, but the damage had already been done.
On offense, Rockingham slowed down the pace of the game and defensively, the Lady Rockets continued to limit the quality and quantity of West Hoke’s shot opportunities making the fourth quarter clock tick away quickly without much interruption.
Along with Jackson’s game-high 14 points for Rockingham, Little scored 10, Butler had 6 and Williams added 2. For West Hoke, Leak finished with 10, McDougald netted 4, Morrisey and Hall each had 2, and Yeager and Estoria Newton had 1 apiece.
The Lady Rockets had a quick meeting in the locker room before returning the gym to celebrate with family and fans. After a team photo, they huddled in the center of the court one last time.
“They have been so great this year,” Wandesha Jackson said. “I love these girls. I am so proud of them.”
