RALEIGH, N.C. – 7 of the last 11 eastern finalists in the NCHSAA 4A girls basketball state championships have been either Rolesville or Southeast Raleigh.

On Friday, one had to bow out prematurely in the second round.

27 points from Caitlyn Jones, and a back-breaking third quarter run ended up being enough for the defending champion Rams to survive and advance to round three with a 61-51 victory.

Southeast Raleigh, who entered 26-2 overall, used a combined nine points from Korryn Davis and Jada Rhodes to grab a quick 15-14 lead after one.

Jones poured in 11 of the Rams’ 14 in the period, and added six more in the second to help Rolesville battled back and claim a 29-25 advantage at the break.

The floodgates opened with a 22-7 third quarter. Jones added 11 more, and four others found the scoresheet to inflate Rolesville’s lead to 51-32 through three.

Southeast’s star freshman Dariyah Harris saved her best for the fourth quarter. 12 of her team-leading 16 came in the final eight minutes to help the Bulldogs make things interesting.

Any hope of a comeback would eventually be squashed by Kayla Bush who continually scored around the rim in the fourth quarter to seal the win for Rolesville.

Tuesday night will feature a rematch of last year’s fourth round. The Rams will hit the road to play at Chapel Hill who escaped 12-seed South Garner with a thrilling 63-60 win.

BOX SCORE:
ROL: 14-15-22-10 61
SER: 15-10-7-19 51

SCORING:
ROL: Jones 27, Bush 11, Rowe 7, Murchison 5, Matthews 5, Lee 4
SER: Harris 16, Trent 12, Davis 10, Dunn 6, J. Rhodes 5, Wright-Brown 2