KANNAPOLIS — A.L. Brown’s girls basketball team scored 177 points in winning three games in the South Piedmont Conference Tournament last week. A sophomore guard named Tina Brown didn’t score a single one of them.
But when the Wonders were in deep trouble in the first round of the 3A state playoffs on Tuesday night, coach Doug Wilson pushed a surprised Brown’s button and her 20 points pushed the Wonders to a spine-tingling 50-48 victory over Rutherfordton-Spindale Central at Bullock Gym.
When the Hilltoppers packed back in a zone to take away Elise Stanback’s driving lanes, four simple words — “Get Tina the ball” — made Wilson look like Mike Krzyzewski and gave the Wonder girls their first playoff win in 15 years.
Brown, sporting a lucky blue headband to match Stanback’s, was the Wonders’ leading scorer several times early this season, but had not been a factor in weeks. But on a night when no one else in white was quite right, Brown stroked in 10 pressure-packed field goals, mostly from the corners.
“We rolled the dice,” shrugged Wilson. “Someone had to get us going, and we were lucky Tina’s velvet touch was back.”
“I’ve been messed up and not playing my hardest,” said Brown, who proudly displayed a bloody lip from an inadvertent Hilltopper elbow. “But I haven’t been thinking about myself. I’ve still been thinking about the team.”
Elise Stanback made a lunging, leaping layup with one second left for the win. Time expired before the Hilltoppers, No. 4 seed from the Southwestern Conference, could get the ball in play.
The Wonders (14-12), who secured their first winning season in eons, earned a second-round date against West Stokes (13-10) on Thursday night in Pfeiffer’s Merner Gym. R-S Central called it a season at 12-12, despite getting 42 points from its terrific backcourt combination of Monica Gerth and Na Ford.
The evening started as a nightmare for the Wonders, No. 2 seed from the SPC. They had sub-zero intensity and fell behind Immediately 11-0. After more than four miserable minutes, Stanback finally put the Wonders on the board. Then Brown entered the game and bang, bang, bang, the Wonders were within 13-8.
“Without Tina, there’s no way we catch up,” said Stanback. “The girl just won’t shoot enough, but we got on her tonight to shoot.”
The Wonders tied the score at 15-all midway through the second quarter on a bucket by Brown, but missed their last eight shots of the half and limped to the locker room trailing 24-15.
The Wonders essentially played 7-on-2 in the second half, creeping closer and closer despite the big nights by Gerth and Ford, who accounted for 23 of their team’s 24 second-half points.
While the first half was sloppy, the final minutes gave fans their money’s worth. With the Wonders down four, Joanna Hutchinson, who hadn’t scored, nailed a 3-pointer at the 3:42 mark. Then at 3:01, Brown found the range to give the Wonders a 41-40 lead, their first advantage all night. The Wonders slipped behind 42-41, but the unsinkable Brown struck again. They went down 44-43, but Michelle Crosby’s free throw evened matters with 1:39 left.
Following a Hilltopper timeout, Kesha Johnson stole the inbounds pass, was fouled and hit her first free throw for a 45-44 lead. Johnson missed her second, but Crosby rebounded in the lane and flipped up a high-arcing bank shot that grazed the ceiling before dropping in for a three-point lead.
Stanback hit a free throw, but Central got two free throws by Gerth and a jumper by Ford to knot the game at 48-all. With 24.4 seconds remaining, Wilson called time to talk things over. “I told them, ‘One shot. Let’s win this thing or go to overtime,’ ” he explained.
The Wonders executed. Johnson and Stanback dribbled down the clock. With five seconds left, Johnson bounced the ball to Stanback, who was being face-guarded well out on the right wing. The 5-foot-5 junior whirled, got her shoulders past her defender and soared toward the cup. Two tall Hilltoppers greeted her just below the rim, but the gravity-defying guard gently kissed the ball off the glass to ignite another crazy Wonder celebration.
“Doug said whoever had the ball with five seconds left had to drive,” said a beaming
Stanback. “I almost changed my shot when I saw the big girls come, but I kept it the same and it went in.”
No Wonder girl has made a bigger shot since the day that Stanback first jumped out of her cradle.
“When Elise got the ball on the right side, I felt pretty good,” said Wilson. “She flew home like a little bird.”
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NOTES:The Wonders got a scare when Stanback’s knee locked up late in the third quarter, but trainer Becky Shopf got her back on the floor. ... Wilson said his squad is playing with house money. “Our goals were a winning season, to make the playoffs and for other teams to start respecting our kids,” he said. “We’ve done it.”
R-S CENTRAL (48) — Gerth 20, Tate, Ford 22, Henry 3, Wilkerson 3, Jackson, Ross, Hudson.
A.L. BROWN (50) — Stanback 13, Morgan, Powell 2, Crosby 7, Johnson 5, Hutchinson 3, Brown 20, Rice, Thomas.
R-S Central 13 11 11 13 — 48
A.L. Brown 8 7 17 18 — 50
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