Carter was the winning coach - of course

GREENSBORO— Realignment has broken up one of North Carolina’s top 2A girls basketball leagues but Kenny Carter made sure Tuesday night that the Central Carolina Conference had one more shining moment.

The flamboyant High Point Central coach, who has a career record of 367-63, was the head man of the West team in the annual East-West All-Star game in the Greensboro Coliseum. His team won, of course, 79-68.

And he did it with a strong CCC flavor. He brought two of his Bison players, Rachel Stockdale, headed for N.C. State, and point guard Velinda Vuncannon, along with Ledford’s Lindsay Smith. Together, they combined for 35 of the team’s points and also produced the Most Valuable Player in Stockdale.

The CCC domination wasn’t lost on Carter. It was as if he planned it that way.

“Every four years, I’m looking for something new,” Carter said. “But I’ll miss playing Ledford with a packed house and everybody yelling at me. I’ll miss seeing the athletes North Rowan brought in the gym. I’ll miss the proximity of the rivalries you develop.”

But will the CCCcoaches miss Carter after Central moves up to 3A?

Definitely not.

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Carter’s teams dominated the league and the state over the last few years as no team ever has. Carter has won 11 conference titles, 12 sectional crowns, five regionals and four state titles. He would come to Rowan County to take on Salisbury and North Rowan and have most of the fans watching him as much as his players — mainly because the verdict on the court was decided so quickly, they had to use other means to entertain themselves

Carter demanded perfection and when he didn’t get it, like one night against Salisbury, he’d actually just throw up his hands and go sit in the stands.

This past week, some of the best players in western North Carolina got a good dose of what it’s like to live in Carter Country. And they responded.

“The kids listened to me,” Carter said. “We took some of the things we did at Central and brought them here. We played up-tempo and utilized the pressure rules as much as we could.”

There is an all-star rule that teams can’t trap after crossing midcourt and Carter took that it to the limit. At halftime, an official told him it would be a technical if he didn’t back off.

Carter shrugged and said fine. By that time, the West was leading by 19.

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Carter didn’t sit much during the game. He isn’t the type that likes to sit. He’s too nervous because he has goals, even when his team is far ahead.

Tuesday night, he wanted to showcase Stockdale, a 6-foot guard who has all the tools. She transferred from the Central Piedmont 4A Conference and Winston-Salem Reynolds (South Rowan and Davie County say thanks, by the way) and helped lead the Bison to a 30-0 record and a state title.

Carter knew this could be her night.

“She gave me her time and energy this season,” Carter said. “She can control games at this level. So I told her, ‘This is the last stage you’ll be on for me. Let the people see what you can do.’”

Seventeen points, six rebounds, four assists and an MVPtrophy later, Carter had finally proven his point to his wunderkind.

“I think she’s going to State a better player,” nodded a very satisfied Carter.

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But who doesn’t go to college a better player under this guy?

He has produced college star after college star, which brings up the question: Why hasn’t he moved up a level?

“Iwould have a very difficult time sitting and letting someone else call the shots,” Carter explained. “It’s not because I think I know more. It’s because I really like what I do. I’m really happy where I am. I think I’m at the best high school program in the state.

“I’ve been offered a lot of jobs. But they’d have to offer me a whole lot more than I’ve been offered for me to leave.”

So Carter will continue coaching high school girls and turning them into MVPs. And he’ll probably keep winning at that astounding 85 percent clip. Thanks to realignment, he just won’t have Rowan County to kick around anymore.

In fact, no one around here can ever remember seeing Kenny Carter lose. Which brings up one more question for the best girls coach in North Carolina.

How did you lose 63 games?

Carter gave that famous grin.

“We were upset 63 times,” he said.

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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4256 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com .