KNIGHTDALE - Lady Knight center Amber Wright logged a double-double in front of her home court fans last Tuesday as she led the Knightdale varsity girls to a 58-50 win over Enloe.

“Amber dominated at the post, and this is what we expect her to do,” said head coach Anthony Byrd. “She scored 18 points and had at least 12 rebounds.”

Neither team scored for a full two minutes after tip-off until Enloe’s Dana Brown found the first basket.

The Knights (5-6, 2-1 Greater Neuse River 4A) quickly found their footing and surged ahead in the first quarter, taking an 8-point lead, 15-7, by the time the period ended.

Enloe (5-4, 2-1 Cap 8 4A) kept the score close throughout the second quarter but never took the lead. Knightdale led 27-21 at the halftime break.

The Lady Knights returned to the court ready for battle in a hard-charging third quarter, in which Knightdale point guard Ajee Smith showcased her ball handling skills.

“Ajee is the backbone of our team,” Byrd said. “She is a great point guard, and has great vision.”

Knightdale held an 8-point lead heading into the fourth and immediately took control on scores by Smith and Wright. Their back-to-back makes gave the Knights their largest lead of the game at 45-33.

As the clock wound down both teams frequented the free throw line. Byrd blamed fatigue for the 10 fourth-quarter fouls on both ends of the court that left the game to be decided from the line.

With a mind for another important ingredient needed to preserve a slight lead, Byrd called a time out and pleaded with his team to not turn the ball over.

His players listened and obeyed.

Smith controlled the ball and slowed the game to a crawl as the game wound down to the final buzzer.

Byrd praised Smith’s poise, and singled out his other starting guard, Nicolette Neal.

“Nicolette is critical for us. She knocked down some big shots to keep Enloe at bay,” he said. “We expect our guards to step up and knock down those shots.”

For Knightdale, who lost to Wakefield the night before, the victory over a perennially talented Enloe team was sweet.

“This was a good win for us. It’s always good when a Greater Neuse team beats a Capital Area league team. It’s good for the conference as a whole,” Byrd said. “This is a good way for us to go into the holidays.”

The Eagles were led by Brown with 18 points, followed by Aleyha Johnson with 11, Candice Jones with 10, Vidula Reddy with 6, Ebonie Coley with 4 and Samantha Pulley with 1 point.

Behind Wright’s 16, Smith contributed 11 points for the Knights and was followed by Neal and Persia Brown with 8 points each, Deana Quatry with 7, Shacora Cooper with 6 and Kristin Maiden with 2 points.