Rocky Mount Academy's varsity basketball teams presented head coaches William Harrison and Ronnie Beddingfield early Christmas gifts, namely the championship trophies, on Saturday as both won the tournament championship games of the annual Charger Christmas Classic played at Wilson Christian Academy.

The girls, under Beddingfield, took an early lead against Hobgood Academy and held on for a 47-41 win while the boys manhandled host Wilson Christian by a 77-33 count. Bethel Christian defeated Wayne Christian in the boys consolation while Wilson Christian bested Bethel in the girl's consolation affair. The championship wins gave both Rocky Mount squads an unblemished 4-0 record .

Rocky Mount girls reached the finals with a win over Bethel Christian while Hobgood topped host school Wilson Christian . The first quarter of the girl's championship saw both teams come out a bit tentative with neither scoring in the first three minutes of action until the Raiders' Schuyler Edmondson canned a pair of free throws at the 5:06 mark.

After RMA's Magan Shearin answered with a layup the lead seesawed back and forth the majority of the period. Cassidy Robertson gave HA a big boost as she came off the bench to score back to back baskets but the Eagles' Amanda Coats three ball from the left side lifted RMA to a 9-8 first quarter advantage.

Hobgood's shooting went ice cold in the second stanza as the Raiders could manage but one field goal in the period. RMA was not exactly setting the world on fire from the field as well but Coats had a pair of baskets and Sara Sykes added an old fashioned three point play as the Eaglews went to the halftime locker room leading 17-13. With RMA's leading scorer and rebounder Rebekah experiencing a subpar night due to foul trouble senior forward Megan Griffin took charge in the third period. Griffin scored one bucket and was foulded inside of four accasions nailing six of eight charity tosses. Griffin's labors along with a pair of Coats field goals vaulted RMA to a 29-19 lead with 3:19 to play in the third quarter.

However Hobgood may have been down but they proved they were far from out. Schuyler Edmondson was fouled on a three point attempt and buried all three of her charity tosses and Morgan Medford hit a follow shot. Griffin scored inside for the Eagles but Medford converted a three point play and suddenly RMA's ten point advantage had been sliced to four at 31-27.

The Raiders got within two during several occasions in the final period . Emily Thompson's bank shot with one minute remaining in the contest made it a 41-39 game but RMA hit clutch free throws, four by Megan Shearin and a pair by Griffin in the waning seconds to ice the win.

Amanda Coats led the RMA scoring with 15 points while Megan Griffin had a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Hobgood's Schuyler Edmondson led all scorers in the game with 17.

In the boys encounter Rocky Mount Academy totally dominated from the outset. The Eagles smothering pressure defense and traps forced the Chargers into 31 turnovers and their decided height advantage enabled them to control the backboards by a 43-20 margin. J.R Parks opened the scoring in the tilt drilling a three pointer from the deep left corner but WCA's Nate Strother answered with a pair of field goals giving the Chargers their only lead of the night. Jackson Russell's basket inside and field goals by Parks and Adam Bayless sandwiched around a pair of Lucas Bayless free throws extended the Eagle lead to 11-4. Strother's three later in the stanza cut the deficit to 13-9 but that would be as close as the Chargers would come the remainder of the afternoon. Parks had all ten of his points in the first quarter as RMA jumped to a 20-11 lead at period's end.

The Eagles showed great balance during the tilt as in the first three quarters a different player stepped in each period to take charge. The second quarter belonged to reserve Michael Keenan as he unleashed an eight point effort . Meanwhile the defense did its job holding the Chargers to only five points and forcing eight turnovers to go in at the halftime break leading 37-16. RMA was also adept at the foul line during the first half hitting 13 of 16 free tosses. The third period belonged to the Eagles' Lucas Bayless as he blistered the Chargers for ten points including a pair of treys as once again the defense came to the forefront limiting Wilson Christian to just two field goals. Both teams played reserves the majority of the final period with everyone on both squads seeing ample action.

Rocky Mount placed four scores in double figures led by Lucas Bayless with 20. Michael Keenan came off the bench to tally 14, J.R. Parks had 10 and Adam Bayless a double-double with 12 points and ten rebounds.Nate Strother had a good game scoring 17 for the Chargersin a losing effort.

ROCKY MOUNT ACADEMY 47

HOBGOOD ACADEMY 41

HOB : 8-5-14-14---41

RMA :9-8-15-15---47

HOBGOOD : Edmondson 5 7-8 17, Morgan Medford 4 1-5 9, Barnhill 0 0-0 0, Thompson 3 0-0 6, Barwick 0 1-3 1, Megan Medford 0 0-0 0, Robertson 4 0-1 8, Bunting 0 0-0 0, Duke 0 0-0 0.

ROCKY MOUNT : Sykes 1 1-1 3, Griffin 3 7-14 13, Brown 1 3-4 5, Shearin 2 4-5 8, A.Coats 5 (1) 2-2 15, Ferguson 0 0-2 0, Boddie 1 0-0 2, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Roberson 0 1-2 1.

REBOUNDS

Hobgood 31..Morgan Medford 10

Rocky Mount..35…Megan Griffin 15

TURNOVERS

Hobgood..19

Rocky Mount..15

ROCKY MOUNT ACADEMY 77

WILSON CHRISTIAN 33

RMA : 20-17-24-16-77

WCA : 11-5-8-9-33

ROCKY MOUNT : Parks 3 (1) 1-1 10, A.Bayless 5 2-2 12, J. Russell 3 0-0 6, Crawford 0 3-6 3, L.Bayless 3 (1) 8-9 20, G.Russell 1 0-0 2, Keenan 3 (1) 5-7 14, Alston 3 1-2 7, Fulcher 1 1-2 3, Weatherly 0 0-1 0, McLean 0 0-0 0.

WILSON CHRISTIAN : Strother 4 (1) 3-5 14, Graham 0 0-0 0, Futrell 0 0-0 0, Huff 1 0-0 2, Abrams 0 (1) 1-2 4, Fisher 1 0-0 2, Edmundsun 3 1-2 7, Reid 0 0-0 0, Mercer 0 0-0 0, Greene 0 0-0 0, Deans 0 (1) 1-6 4.

REBOUNDS

Rocky Mount : 43..Adam Bayless 10

Wilson Christian : 20..Brody Greene 4, Nathan Strother 4.

TURNOVERS

Rocky Mount : 12

Wilson Christian : 31