WENDELL - Thursday's win over Knightdale may have been too comforting for the Lady Warriors as they headed to Clayton Friday and dropped one to the Comets 46-35.

For that matter, the loss for the Lady Knights may have been a wake up call. The team squeezed out a 50-47 win over West Johnston in Friday night's conference game.

But in Wendell, the East Wake team played at nearly twice the level of its Knightdale counterpart. The Lady Warriors' 17-3 first quarter lead was one Knightdale never overcame.

East Wake (4-8, 4-2) rolled on to a 61-34 win, punctuated by a 16-8 fourth quarter following a pair of periods in which the Lady Knights (4-12, 3-3) played the home team a bit closer. Knightdale was outscored, but by a mere 5 points, in the second and third quarters.

Rebounding and working the floor from inside the paint was the game the Warriors truly won as chaos resounded on the Knightdale end of the court. That chaos resulted in rushed shots and forced passes, and the Knights' key players missed their marks. Syerra Troutman was held to 4 points in the first half. Cana Marriott was held to just 1 point.

"We tried to press early but their guards did a really good job of breaking it and scoring in transition," Knightdale coach Anissa Little said. "We went half court man the rest of the night. I felt that they outplayed us from the start. We never matched their intensity level and they beat us in transition the whole game."

The pace of play in a man defense might have given the Knights enough of a break to step up on offense, but it certainly didn't slow the home team's own offensive effort. East Wake scored one point less in the second half than in its first-half showing, averaging just over 15 point per quarter. Knightdale averaged 8.5 points per quarter.

An exclamation mark on an already gleaming lead, Tianna Knuckles' 3-pointer at the start of the fourth quarter lit up the gym and carried the team past the 50-point mark - as Knightdale worked to cross the 30-point mark. From that point forward Knightdale played in desperation and East Wake played with a realization of such.

"The girls were focused and ready to play," East Wake coach Toni Vick said. "They played with intensity and we had team chemistry. We played very well as a team."

Shakerrya Morrison led the Warriors in the win with 11 points, followed by Knuckles with 9, and Brittani Wade and Jazamine Gray with 7 points each.

The Knights were led by Troutman with 10 points, followed by Marriott with 7 and Amber Wright with 6.

Wright led the Lady Knights with 16 points in the win over West Johnston, and Troutman and Marriott posted 12 points each.

Knuckles led the Lady Warriors in their loss to Clayton with 9 points. She was followed by Jaquilla Lindsey, who scored 7 points.

East Wake traveled to Garner to face the Trojans yesterday (Tuesday). Knightdale hosted Clayton yesterday. Game results were not available at press time.

KHS - 3-12-11-8-34

EWHS - 17-14-14-16-61

East Wake 61

Shakerrya Morrison 11, Tianna Knuckles 9, Brittani Wade 7, Jazamine Gray 7, Felicia Graham 6, Saffiyah Eleazar 6, Ebony Williams 5, Nicole Manigo 4, Brittany Petty 2, Jaquilla Lindsey 2.

Knightdale 34

Syerra Troutman 10, Cana Marriott 7, Amber Wright 6, Shakara Greaves 4, Samiydah Kearney 3, Tessa Lumpkin 2, Ashley Burwell 1, Alexis Steward 1.