“It’s glorious, it’s indescribable, it’s just unwordable,” gushed Catawba’s senior center Donna Carr.
In other words, Catawba’s first-ever regular-season SAC title in women’s basketball felt pretty darned good.
Catawba pounded rival Presbyterian 84-65 Wednesday night to wrap up that history-making league championship. The Indians (21-4, 12-1) are now up two games on the field with just one left to play. Presbyterian (20-7, 10-3), which beat Catawba in overtime earlier this season in Clinton, could have tied the Tribe with a victory, but wilted in the face of the Indians’ superior depth.
Catawba coach Jim Duncan used four players — Vuokko Timola, Erin Buckland, Satu Puolitaival and Leticia Stockton — off his bench. All the quartet did was shoot 11-for-13 on field goals, score 26 points and grab 10 boards.
PC’s bench? Non-existent. Five Blue Hose reserves failed to scratch in 52 minutes of playing time.
“We’ve got so many players — so many weapons,” said Carr. “Most teams, you can focus on stopping one or two people. Not this team.”
“It is the epitome of a team,” smiled coach John Duncan. “All year we’ve played a lot of people.”
When this one was in the books, the delirious Indians danced and hugged and hollered at center court until they were exhausted.
“I’ve never been in the situation of being a champion,” said Carr. “Never. I wanted to stay on that spot on the court forever. I could have soaked up that good feeling for hours.”
Carr, the Salisbury High girl who came back home from the University of South Carolina in search of a title, found one.
So did Duncan, who’s 101-35 at Catawba. “We’ve been a consistent winner for years,” he said. “But that ring has proven a little elusive.”
Now the wait’s over for everyone, including dynamic little guard Lakai Brice, who changed Catawba basketball when she signed up. Brice went 37 minutes against PC in a wide-open game and had one — that’s right, one — turnover.
Five Indians scored in double figures, including Carr (19 points), Buckland (14), Brice (12), freshman post player Danyel Locklear (12) and high-leaping forward Dorthell Little (11). That balance offset 21 points by PC senior Tray Woody, 17 by sturdy Rachel Sloan and 15 by bomber Bonnie Werner.
The key was controlling Sloan, who had won back-to-back SAC Player of the Week awards. Carr warmed to that task, holding the six-footer to three field goals.
“Donna used her emotions the right way,” said Duncan. “And she had motivation. She had a big game every time we needed her to have a big game this season, except one. That was the game we lost at Presbyterian.”
“It was time to show up,” said Carr. “I don’t have a personal vendetta against Sloan, but I was going to make every shot. I was not going to miss.”
Carr didn’t miss often, shooting 9-for-13 and grabbing seven second-half boards.
But it wasn’t just Carr. Every Indian was primed for this one, especially the eight seniors.
Catawba, ranked second in the South Atlantic Region, took charge early. It was 10-10 when the Indians hit an 11-3 spurt for an eight-point lead. Sparked by a Puolitaival 3-pointer, Catawba scored 13 points in a two-minute flurry and rolled to a 41-24 lead at halftime.
The second half was more of the same. Carr’s backdoor pass to Brice made it a shocking 67-40 with 9:41 left to play.
“Then we went to sleep,” said Duncan. And as the Indians slumbered, PC put together a sudden16-0 run and got within 11. But just when fans were starting to panic, Brice banked in a tough 14-footer at the 6:04 mark.
“I saw Coach was getting mad over there,” laughed Brice. “I guess it was a key shot.”
After Brice’s connection, Duncan called timeout.
“I like to call a timeout on a positive,” he said. “If I’d called one before Lakai’s shot, I might have fussed at them. And I didn’t want to fuss. They had played too well.”
Duncan told his team during that timeout that good teams make runs and PC, ranked third in the region, had just made one. Now was the time to show some composure, he explained.
And Catawba did. Out of the timeout, Little and Locklear put in layups and the danger was over.
“We were tired of getting close, tired of falling just a little short, tired of second,” said Brice. “The seniors who were out there, we weren’t going to lose this game. Oh, no.”
“It’s sweet,” said Duncan. “Our play made a statement. I don’t know of any more deserving champions.”
PRESBYTERIAN (65) — Leopard 7, Sloan 17, Woody 21, Davis 5, Werner 15, Parnell, Choice, Vicks, Chittam, Misner.
CATAWBA (84) — Locklear 12, Little 11, Carr 19, Pasola 4, Brice 12, Timola 3, Buckland 14, Puolitaival 7, Stockton 2.
Presbyterian 24 41 — 65
Catawba 41 43 — 84
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