West Regional 2A Final: Phifer gets last word

Salisbury's Bubbles Phifer was tournament MVP after win over Newton-Conover in the 2A Western regionals. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Bret Strelow

bstrelow@salisburypost.com

GREENSBORO — Salisbury senior Bubbles Phifer, asked when she thought the Hornets had seized control of the 2A Western Regional final, offered a quick response.

"I would say first quarter," Phifer said.

Ashia Holmes interrupted her teammate's explanation to say she believed it happened in the third or fourth quarter of a 43-32 win against Newton-Conover.

Salisbury coach Andrew Mitchell admitted he wasn't comfortable until less than a minute remained.

Phifer refused to budge, quietly declaring, "It says 15-4" as she read the first-quarter score from the official stat sheet.

Mitchell laughed and gave Phifer the final word on the matter.

"You're the senior captain," he said.

Phifer performed like a trustworthy leader throughout Salisbury's win over the Red Devils (28-4) at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center on Saturday.

She scored 15 points, grabbed eight rebounds, collected four steals, blocked two shots and played stifling defense on quick guard Shynese Whitener to earn regional MVP honors.

Mitchell and Phifer said scouting revealed that the right-handed Whitener prefers penetrating to her left. Often forced to go right, Whitener scored four of her six points when Phifer was on the bench late in the third quarter.

"She sets the tone," Mitchell said. "What they want to do is take the ball and get it down the floor and get you to rotate off so they can kick to their shooters. By her stopping the ball up top, it didn't allow them to get in any rhythm offensively.

"That's what she's meant to us all year. As soon as the ball goes through the hole or they get a rebound, she jumps that point guard right away. That gets our defense going."

Phifer had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven steals in a regional semifinal win against Bandys, a Newton-Conover rival that went 0-3 against the Red Devils this season. After the Trojans fell 45-31 against Salisbury on Wednesday, Bandys coach Beth Queen said she believed Newton-Conover had a stronger defense than the Hornets.

Salisbury players repeated that quote to Mitchell while preparing for Saturday's game.

The Hornets (28-0) had 10 steals and scored 11 points off a dozen Newton turnovers to build their 15-4 lead.

"We knew this was the game that was going to get us to the big show," Phifer said. "We had to come out with a lot of intensity, a lot of defense."

Newton-Conover's three perimeter starters finished with 18 of the team's 25 turnovers, and the Red Devils rarely maintained possession if they misfired.

Salisbury attempted 21 more shots than Newton in the first half alone and won comfortably despite 29-percent accuracy from the field.

Phifer went 6-for-16 while using her quickness to score on a variety of layups and runners. Newton coach Jonathan Tharpe turned toward assistant Tisha England with a look of disbelief when Phifer drifted left and hit a contested shot for a 30-14 lead with three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

"I really liked it when Phifer didn't have the ball in her hands; I felt like we were getting what we wanted," Tharpe said. "When she didn't have the ball in her hands, I thought we did a pretty good job on their other guards. A couple times we made them pick it up, and we were just a hair away from picking it off.

"With the ball in Phifer's hands, she controlled so much of their halfcourt, and she's a confident player. She knows if she has it in her hands that she can do something with it."