Someone must have cancelled the track meet Gary Atwell hoped to attend Wednesday night at
Catawba’s Goodman Gymnasium.The North Rowan girls basketball coach spent much of the evening trying to
keep the Lady Cavs from dozing off in their sluggish, 34-31 semifinal win over Davie
County in the Sam Moir Christmas Classic.
“We looked like we were
asleep,” Atwell said after top-seeded North (6-2) advanced to tonight’s
championship game against East Rowan. “I was very disappointed with our effort. But
like I told the girls, sometimes a good team gets wins when they don’t play well.
Still, this was an ugly performance.”
It certainly wasn’t
Masterpiece Theatre. But credit upstart Davie (5-7), which used a variety of zone defenses
and tight presses that forced North to play a seldom-seen half-court game.
“And that’s not
us,” explained North junior Courtney Hill. “We like a fast-paced game. Real
fast. They really outhustled us the whole game.”
Yet it was Hill who helped North
secure this victory. The 5-7 guard scored five points in the fourth quarter, including the
Cavs’ final two baskets. First she converted a free throw that broke a 26-26 tie
— the third of the second half — with 5:47 to play. Then with just over four
minutes to go she hit a layup that provided a three-point edge. Finally, she grabbed an
offensive rebound and sank a putback to give North a 34-29 lead with 3:03 remaining.
“Our girls played a smart
game,” said Davie coach Carol Cozart. “We were patient on defense and we
didn’t give anything away. We seem to be playing everybody right down to the wire.
And if we keep doing that, we’re gonna learn how to start turning them our way.”
The War Eagles had things going
their way in the first quarter, when Tina Harkness and Shelby Michael each made a pair of
buckets as DC built an 8-4 lead. Atwell, who left the building with a headache, was
already shaking his head.
“I’m always scared of
the first game in this gym,” he said. “Maybe it’s the big (94-foot) floor,
or the big crowds, or the depth perception problems. It’s a hard place to play when
you’re not used to it.”
North adjusted to its surroundings
in the second period. Tasha Pharr scored five points and the Cavs used a 9-0 run to mount
a 17-14 halftime lead.
Davie’s charge was fueled by
Harkness, who shot 7-for-16 from the floor and topped all scorers with 19 points. And
though North was held to a season-low scoring total, it played hermetically-sealed defense
and permitted only a handful of open looks.
“Maybe we thought this would
be an easy game,” said North’s Joyce Hipps. “We weren’t ready to come
out and play.”
Teammate Megan Honeycutt echoed
that sentiment. “We came out with a frame of mind that we wouldn’t have to play
our best,” she said after pacing North with 10 points. “That was a mistake. It
was slow and sloppy, but somehow we came out with the victory.”
It’s a victory that earned
them another difficult assignment. The Cavs have split two games with defending champion
East (9-3) this season, losing 52-43 on Nov. 23 and prevailing 76-53 Dec. 20. North will
bring a four-game winning streak to the clash.
“We’ll have to play more
like a No. 1 seed,” said Honeycutt. “We’ll have to be aggressive,
we’ll have to be ready and we’ll have to come out running.”
n
NOTES: This marks North’s
fourth trip to the tourney final. It last won the title in 1997 when it bested East ...
Davie has now lost six games by six or fewer points... Michael had nine rebounds. ...
Cozart’s husband Bill, the team statistician, was called for a technical foul midway
through the second quarter when he questioned an official’s call during a timeout.
DAVIECOUNTY(31) — Harkness
19, Michael 8, Merlau 2, McDaniel 2, Hamm, Angell, Williams, Cornatzer, Gajewski, Morton,
Moore.
NORTHROWAN(34) — Honeycutt
10, C.Hill 9, Hipps 9, Pharr 6, Bowie, Tucker, A.Hill, Witherspoon.
Davie 8 6 8 9 — 31
North Rowan 4 13 9 8 — 34 |
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