BY MIKE LONDON
SALISBURY POST

MISENHEIMER— Saturday’s girls 3A Sectional 2 was decided very early. Even before Forestview’s 15-3 run to open the game.

Pfeiffer trainers took a look at A.L. Brown junior guard Elise Stanback’s right knee prior to the game and advised coach Doug Wilson that she shouldn’t play.

“They said my knee was real loose,” said Stanback, runner-up in the recent South Piedmont Conference Player of the Year balloting.

Stanback’s knee locked up for several minutes on Tuesday when the Wonders won a first-round game against R-S Central. Then she hobbled off the floor to an ovation with 1:13 left in the sectional semis win over West Stokes.

But Saturday, she couldn’t go and the SPC tourney champion Wonders (15-13) were slapped 56-26 by strong Forestview (27-1), the top seed out of the Southwestern Conference.

Stanback, wearing a dark blue University of Tennessee sweatshirt, high-fived her teammates during introductions, but that was the only time she set foot on the floor.

“We didn’t find out until after we got over here that Elise wouldn’t play,” said a subdued Wilson. “Yeah, it was pretty tough. You lose 14 to 15 points of pure offense, plus all those rebounds and steals and leadership. That’s not exactly easy to replace.

“At the same time, I’m not taking anything away from Forestview. They’ve got a real good ball club.”

Forestview does have a potent club, as it showed in its second-half comeback against West Rowan in the semis.

The Jaguars, who had faltered the last two years in the sectionals against SPC teams (East Rowan, then Concord) did a lot of things right. They got scoring from nine players, outrebounded the Wonders 31-21, made only eight turnovers and blistered the nets with 58 percent shooting in the second half.

The shell-shocked Wonders went down immediately by 12, but held the Jaguars to 2-for-13 shooting in the second quarter and went to the halftime locker room feeling OK, trailing by a respectable 26-16.

But Forestview spread the floor in the second half and patiently carved up the Wonders’ man-to-man defense. The margin grew steadily.

And on the other end, shorn of Stanback’s speed, the Wonders couldn’t crack the Jaguars’ traps. The Wonders took only nine shots in the second half, while making 11 turnovers.

By the fourth quarter, when Forestview outscored the Wonders 16-2, Wilson’s team was finally sapped of all emotion and energy.

“I thought the kids played their hearts out,” said Wilson. “You’ve got (junior guard) Joanna Hutchinson who averages eight or nine minutes and she had to go 25. I was proud. I thought they all did everything they could do. Think about it. Six weeks ago, people didn’t think we’d make the playoffs. We ended up in the sectional finals. We captured the imagination of the whole area.”

FORESTVIEW (56)— McArver 13, Correll 6, Ellis 8, Beale 2, Simons 7, Currence 5, Gill 5, Coe 9, Tate 1, Ledbetter, Gallagher.

A.L. BROWN (26) — Morgan, Crosby 2, Powell 6, Johnson 8, Brown 1, Rice 4, Buster, Hutchinson 5, Thomas, Summers.

Forestview 21 5 14 16 — 56

A.L. Brown 9 7 8 2 — 26