Mar 15, 2010
Butler High School celebrates their NCHSAA 4-A Women's Championship on Saturday, March 13. (photo by Will Okun)
For the 10th time in 11 years, the Western representatives held the edge over the Eastern champions in the NCHSAA state basketball championships. For the second straight year, the Western representative took six of the eight title games, with Kinston in the 2-A men and Rocky Mount in the 3-A men breaking through for the East.
In 2009, the Western representative took six of the eight championship games, with only Dudley in the 3-A women and Northern Guilford in the 3-A men winning out of the East, but later Northern Guilford had to vacate its title.
The West took five of the eight championship games in 2008, and the 2007 count had the West winning five of eight, but in 2006, the East representatives took six of the eight titles, with only Bishop McGuinness in the 1-A women and South Mecklenburg in the 4-A women’s games winning for the West.
Western teams took five of eight championships during the 2005 Super Saturday activities, six of eight titles in 2004 and seven of eight championships during the 2003 finals. Only Fayetteville Seventy-First, with its 4-A women’s triumph over Charlotte Zeb Vance by a 50-47 count, able to give the East a victory in 2003.
The 2002 championships represent the only time that one side of the state has swept the other in the 29-year history using the regional format, as the Western champions captured all eight of those NCHSAA title games, four men’s games and four women’s games. In 2001, the West went 6-2, with only East Bladen in the 2-A men’s title game and Winston-Salem Carver in the 3-A women’s championship breaking through for the East. In 2000, seven of the eight championships went to Western representatives, with only Whiteville’s narrow victory over Pittsboro Northwood in the 2-A men’s final preventing a complete sweep by the West over the East.
The victory by Kernersville Bishop McGuinness over Williamston by 55-46 in the state 1-A women’s final at the Smith Center continued a solid trend for the Western champ in that classification. The West has now won 23 of the last 25 titles in the 1-A classification for women. The only Eastern teams to break through during this time were Union in 1998 and Lakewood in 1994.
It was also the fifth consecutive title for Bishop McGuinness in the women’s championships. The longest string of state titles in that department is owned by Hayesville, which won six under coach Darryl McClure from 1988 through ’93.
A total of five teams entered the final Saturday of NCHSAA basketball play with unblemished records, but only one-- Salisbury, was able to preserve its perfect mark. Somebody was going to come out of that 2-A women's final with an undefeated record as Salisbury (28-0) and East Bladen (29-0) were perfect going in before Sallisbury's 49-37 triumph.
Williamston's women were unbeaten entering the 1-A final but fell to Bishop McGuinness 55-46 to wind up 29-1 overall. Green Hope carried a 31-0 mark into the 4-A women's game but ran into a buzzsaw of a David Butler team, which rolled to an 87-61 triumph.
That is a term that has been bandied about a lot as the NCAA brackets were established, but it is a term that could be used to describe the Central Carolina 2-A Conference when it comes to NCHSAA women’s basketball.
Salisbury from the CCC earned the league its third consecutive state crown, fourth in the last seven years and 10th title in the last 16 seasons. Salisbury defeated East Bladen 49-37 for the 2-A crown, led by the efforts of the Wendy's Kay Yow Most Valuable Player Shanequa Phifer, who scored 14 points and grabbed four rebounds in earning her second consecutive state final MVP honor.
Salisbury is the 18th women's basketball team to complete the NCHSAA campaign with a perfect record since 1986. Last year Salisbury beat Graham 56-41 in the final as Phifer scored 15 points for Salisbury.
Monroe captured the NCHSAA 1-A men's crown by beating Goldsboro 62-46, led by Wendy's Charlie Adams Most Valuable Player Issac Blakeney. Blakeney pumped in 24 points and hauled down 15 rebounds, hitting nine of 11 shots from the field to lead the Redhawks to their 32nd victory against only one loss.
Monroe's 32 wins are the most by a 1-A team since 1981, when Pantego compiled a 32-0 mark en route to a state title.
Goldsboro's RaSean Brewington scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as his Cougars lost to Monroe in the 1-A men's championship game. But he started red hot, as he scored 16 points in the first quarter-- of his team's 18-- as the Cougars staked themselves to an early 18-10 advantage. He was six for six from the field, including three from beyond the arc, in the first eight minutes. But Monroe outscored Goldsboro 21-4 in the second quarter to take command.
Rocky Mount held off Concord 84-79 before a vocal crowd in the Smith Center for the NCHSAA 3-A men's title. Tashawn Mabry had 26 points and 15 rebounds for the Gryphons and was named the Wendy's Charlie Adams MVP. That offset a great 28-point, 11-rebound performance by Concord's Jacquise Moore.
A total of 55 points were scored in the final eight minutes of a game that featured 11 ties and six lead changes. Rocky Mount led by 12 with 5:59 to play but had to hold off a furious Concord comeback.
All eight of the state championship basketball games are available to Time Warner Cable subscribers across the state on Carolina Video on Demand, on channel 1234.
Wendy’s is the presenting sponsor for the NCHSAA sports program…the two sites for the championships (Smith and Reynolds) was the eighth time two sites have been used since 1998, when the women’s games were played at Carmichael Auditorium and the men’s games were held at the Smith Center …Northern Durham and Garner High Schools served as the official hosts for the championship…as a result of action by the NCHSAA Board of Directors, the Wendy's Most Valuable Player awards honored long-time executive director Charlie Adams for the men's games and the late Kay Yow, the long-time North Carolina State University women's basketball coach and a North Carolina native, for the women's contests…the Bouncing Bulldogs, the famous rope-skipping demonstration team from Durham, provided the halftime entertainment at the men’s 4-A final on Saturday night and got their customary standing ovation from the crowd. The Bouncing Bulldogs, under the direction of Ray Fredrick, have become one of the highlights for fans attending the championship games and have come to the championships for the last 24 years.
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