By David Rogers. HUDSON, N.C. — An early commanding lead in basketball means little when your opponent battles back to make a game of it. That’s why they play the whole game — and on Jan. 6, Watauga somehow managed to survive a scrappy, rallying performance by host South Caldwell to win, 51-44. It was both teams’ Northwestern Conference season opener, fittingly played with high energy in the raucous and electric Spartan gym.

The Pioneers seemed to take control early with a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. But Watauga lost the inside presence of junior forward Jackson Pryor to foul trouble early in the second period and that proved at least one of the factors in the Spartans’ scrambling back to trail by only one at intermission (23-22) and by just three at the end of the third quarter (36-33).

The Pioneers shrugged off 17 turnovers and a seeming inability to finish at the rim, with layups and put-backs rolling off the backboard and around the hoop, rebound after rebound. But with disruptive defense of their own and bursts of timely offensive production, Watauga was able to hold off and survive the Spartan rallies.

“Obviously, there are some things we can improve upon,” said Watauga head coach Bryson Payne after talking with the team following the game. “I like the way we finished the game tonight. We played hard. We struggled to finish around the rim at times but, ultimately, we did enough to win. That’s our big thing: find a way to win. I was proud of the way our guys took care of the basketball at the end and get enough free throws to pull away.”

Of the deficiency in “finishing at the rim” that could have meant an even greater margin of victory, Payne said, “We work on that every day, but whether the ball goes in or doesn’t go in, we want a ‘next play’ mentality.”

In other words, while in the moment, don’t fret about mistakes. Move on to the next play and the next opportunity.

Of the 17 turnovers, Payne observed, “I have to credit South Caldwell head coach Danny Anderson for some of that. I have talked to other coaches and from what we saw tonight, he ran a completely new defense against us. He is really good at preparing his guys so I think early on we were kind of caught off guard. Later on, we got it figured out and got a little bit more organized. Also, this was a loud environment, with a lot of people here. It was the first conference game so the energy was high.

“Our guys want to score,” Payne added. “We might have been in a little bit of a hurry, but we want to push the ball. Some of those turnovers we are prepared to (absorb) because we want to push the tempo. With that, you are going to lose the ball sometimes.”

“It was a good win. Our defense really stepped up,” said Pryor after the game.

“This was exciting,” said a smiling Cole Horine afterwards. “We played four quarters tonight and played together as a team, with good defense. But we were pretty even in that we didn’t go up and down, and up and down, like we do sometimes. We had a really good finish.”

Of the turnovers, Horine said matter-of-factly, “We have to take care of the ball better. Sometimes I think we get in a bit of a rush. Overall, we are getting better every day.”

Watauga’s next game encounter is in Taylorsville on Jan. 10, at Alexander Central.

“They are very well coached,” said Payne of the upcoming game. “They have some size. They are likely to play a zone defense the whole time so we are going to have to be able to hit some shots. They like to pack the paint so we are going to have to try and finish in traffic. They will be very disciplined, running a lot of sets and screens, so we will have to talk through those. Our goal, defensively, is to make everything as difficult for our opponents as possible and rebound.”

Tipoff at Alexander Central is tentatively scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Cougar gym, to immediately follow the women’s varsity game.

SCORING SUMMARY

• WAT Wyatt Keller (18)
• WAT Grant Morrison (14)
• SCD Tyler Cline (13)
• SCD Tyler Eggers (12)
• SCD Caleb Greene (10)
• WAT Maddox Greene (8)
• WAT Wyatt Kohout (8)
• WAT Jackson Pryor (3)
• SCD Connor Setzer (3)
• SCD Carter Anderson (3)
• SCD Riley Heubaum (2)
• SCD Lawson Wilks (1)

—By David Rogers. HUDSON, N.C. — Finding different ways to win basketball games can add up to a good season. In opening Northwestern Conference play for the 2022-23 season with a dominating win over South Caldwell, 60-34, Watauga found a third star on Jan. 6.

The Spartans’ starting lineup featured 6-foot (plus), very athletic post player in Lillie Bumgarner and, from the get-go, it was apparent that South Caldwell intended to leverage her height advantage. While the Pioneers jumped out to an early lead, thanks largely to 8 first quarter points from Charlotte Torgerson, by focusing their offensive attack through the post the Spartans were able to even things up at 11-11. Bumgarner tallied seven of those points.

A key defensive adjustment and strategy paid dividends for the Pioneers going forward.

“Bumgarner got going early, in the first quarter and that was critical for them,” said Watauga head coach Laura Barry after the game. “The adjustment that had to be made was for us to either start scoring more or stopping her, or some combination of the two. We knew we wanted to press at some point in the first half. Clearly there are some teams that don’t want that pressure. I thought Caroline (Farthing) with her quick hands at the top of our zone was effective, but our press disrupted them even more. We (extended our lead) off their turnovers.”

Watauga senior Brooke Scheffler drew the defensive assignment of guarding Bumgarner and even though the Spartan junior scored 20 points on the night, without Scheffler’s efforts the damage to the Pioneer scorebook would have been much worse and that was not lost on Barry afterwards.

“Brooke does a really good job every night, defensively. She is big inside for us. Some people forget how much of a difference maker that is, but I love it that she is also shooting the ball with confidence,” said Barry.

In fact, Scheffler proved to be double trouble for the host Spartans. While limiting Bumgarner to just 13 points for the final three quarters on the defensive end, Scheffler was also making a difference on the offensive end, exploding for a game-high 22 points on the night, including three 3-pointers from beyond the arc.”

But it was a night that almost wasn’t for Scheffler, who is committed to play Division I college volleyball for Furman University. Her night against South Caldwell was almost cut very short because she was poked in the eye within the first couple of minutes of play.

“She got poked in the eye really hard,” said Barry, “and we were actually thinking she wouldn’t go back in tonight but she put in a few eyedrops — and she is tough. As a team we spoke about toughness before the game and she lived it tonight. She came back, ready to go.”

Was she ever. Re-entering the game, Scheffler poured in 13 of the team’s 23 points in the second quarter as the press and capitalizing on turnovers led the Pioneers to outscore South Caldwell, 23-6, in what proved to be the game’s pivotal period.

“We needed (Brooke) in this game. We didn’t need her to score 22, but we needed her because of what she brings to the floor. She exceeded that. (Chuckling) We were joking that we needed to poke her in the eye before every game,” said Barry, with smile in her eye.

Barry also had high praise for three players coming off the bench, including Kaitlyn Darner, who plays almost as many minutes as the starters in most games, and Diane McGlamery and Gracie Lawrence.

“We really needed them tonight to fill in for Scheffler when she was out and also because Laurel Kiker was in foul trouble early. They all did a great job,” said Barry.

Three Pioneers scored in double figures. In addition to Scheffler’s game-high 22, point guard Kate Sears rolled up 17 without hardly touching the floor in the final period. Watauga’s other reliable offensive producer, Torgerson, finished the night with 15 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. As a team, the Pioneers were a respectable 7-of-11 from the foul line.

Barry also had special notes about the development of Farthing and Scheffler in making the transition from volleyball to basketball and how they are both now rounding into form.

“It is not getting into basketball shape, physically,” said Barry, noting that both are very fit athletes. “It is more of getting into the basketball skill and proficiency. Farthing, for example, some of her reads and what she is seeing with the ball in her hands is so much better than where I thought she would be at this point. She is a senior, making plays for us.”

Looking ahead at the next (Jan. 10) conference matchup against Alexander Central (12-0 in their non-conference schedule to open the season, Barry was quick to note, “I am really interested in seeing how Alexander Central’s opening game against Ashe County turned out. AC is very coached and we know who they have back. We don’t know as much about their new point guard. But they can shoot it. They are well coached. And they will be executing on offense. It will be interesting to see how they guard us because they have some good players.”

Watauga’s Jan. 10 game against Alexander Central is on the road, in Taylorsville, and tentatively scheduled to tipoff just after 6 p.m., after the junior varsity men’s game in the Cougar gym.

SCORING SUMMARY

• WAT Brooke Scheffler (22)
• SCA Lillie Bumgarner (20)
• WAT Kate Sears (17)
• WAT Charlotte Torgerson (15)
• WAT Caroline Farthing (4)
• SCA Addison Edwards (4)
• SCA Kaylee Anderson (4)
• SCA Kristin Barber (4)
• WAT Julie Matheson (2)
• SCA Landrie Smith (2)

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Not one. Not two. But THREE High Country volleyball players were named to a prominent “All State” team this week, including Watauga seniors Caroline Farthing and Brooke Scheffler, as well as Ashe County junior Paige Overcash. Even more noteworthy for this region? All three earned HighSchoolOT.com “First Team” all-state designations.

HighSchoolOT.com is an operating unit of WRAL, an NBC News television affiliate, based in Raleigh. HighSchoolOT focuses on high school athletics throughout the state, reporting not just scores and standings but also compiles statistical data and develops “all state” teams annually in football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, softball and other high school sports. This is the third year HSOT has published a high school volleyball poll, consisting of a First Team, Second Team, Third Team, and Honorable Mention lists.

With 559 kills, 49 service aces, 27 blocked shots and 343 digs, Watauga’s Farthing certainly demonstrated her versatility as both an outside hitter and strong defensive player during the 2022 season. In 2023, she remains close to home as an Appalachian State volleyball recruit.

Scheffler gained acclaim in her freshman, sophomore and junior years as an outside hitter and middle blocker, but proved a dynamic lynchpin to Watauga’s 2022 season success as a setter, as well as an outside hitter when the situation called for it. Her senior year, she racked up 418 kills, 21 service aces, 56 blocked shots, and 493 assists in her different Pioneer roles. She has committed to play for Furman University in college.

High Country high school volleyball enthusiasts get to enjoy Overcash’s athletic performances for another year because even though she earned First Team All-State recognition and appears headed for Liberty University to play after graduation, she is still only a junior. In 2022, she racked up 408 kills, 40 service aces, 23 blocked shots, and 173 digs as primarily an outside hitter for Ashe County.

North Carolina high school athletics is currently divided into six classifications, including small school 1A and 2A, 3A, and large school 4A comprised primarily of public high schools. Private, independent school classifications include NCISAA 3A and NCISAA 4A classes.

HighSchoolOT statewide rankings for the 2022 season have Watauga at No. 14 after going 23-3 on the season and well into the playoffs.  HSOT also ranks teams within specific area codes and in “828”, Watauga is ranked No. 2 behind Asheville Christian. In “336,” Ashe County is ranked No. 6.

By David Rogers. LEXINGTON, N.C. — With nary a wink nor a nod, Watauga’s women’s basketball team stormed past Central Davidson on Jan 3, leading from start to finish and building to a dominant, 50-39 win.

Sophomore Kate Sears scored exactly half of the Pioneers points but her offensive production was only part of the story as Watauga continued on its winning way with a full team effort. As they whipped the ball around court, it was obvious that the teammate credited with the scoring mattered little. When Sears herself was not on the front end of an assist in finding the open player, it was Laurel Kiker, Charlotte Torgerson, Caroline Farthing, Brooke Scheffler or any of the other Pioneers finding an open Sears on the perimeter or driving the lane for the layup.

To go with Sears’ 25, Scheffler (9), Farthing (8), Kiker (5) and Torgerson (3) added the rest.

Watauga’s early week contest against the Spartans was a fitting cap to a challenging, non-conference schedule in which the Pioneers went 9-4. They opened with a nervous loss to Shelby, and lost three others to Lake Norman, Charlotte Catholic — both 4A North Carolina powerhouse programs — and to a loaded Atlanta-based Westminster. But they also had some huge wins against western NC rivals, too, like Charlotte-base Myers Park and Chambers, perennial 4A contender R J Reynolds (Winston-Salem), as well as mountain region powers A C Reynolds, Mountain Heritage, Avery County and Ashe County. In the first round of the Cherokee tournament, they sent Huntsville, Ala.’s Lee High School Generals to a decisive surrender.

Now we see what a challenging non-conference schedule did to prepare the Pioneers for a demanding Northwestern Conference slate, beginning on Friday, Jan. 6, on the road at South Caldwell.

All six of the NWC members have winning records with the completion of the non-conference schedule. At 9-5, South Caldwell is at the bottom of the list. Last week’s High Country Holiday Classic finale may well prove the preview of a league championship game, with Watauga outlasting the Huskies of Ashe County, but an undefeated (12-0) Alexander Central team may have something to say about that when the Cougars host the Pioneers on Jan. 10, in Taylorsville. At 12-1 in its early slate, Hibriten will pose a threat, too, to anyone’s league championship ambitions and Freedom (8-4) is Watauga’s most consistently strong rival, year after year after year.

Watauga’s non-conference competition provided many lessons: what to do when the opposing defense focuses on stopping Sears; how and when others must step up; that the Pioneers can play outstanding basketball without their key playmaker on the court; that they can be resilient and come back from a lost game — or even can come back from a bad first half.

The non-conference chapter of the 2022-23 season is over, closed, and done with. Now it is time to roll up those Pioneer sleeves and get to work while having fun playing the game of basketball.

By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — After Watauga jumped out to a 12-0 lead over Apex Friendship, many in Lentz Eggers Gym for the championship game of the High Country Holiday Classic thought the game would evolve as a runaway rather than the nail biter everyone expected. Those thoughts proved premature, because nail biter is exactly what fans got with the Patriots rallying, then surviving to defeat the Pioneers, 64-62.

And the outcome came down to the final seconds, including Pioneer junior forward Jackson Pryor’s poach of an Apex inbounds pass from near the Watauga basket and his immediate put-in for a score with just 12 seconds on the clock. That narrowed Watauga deficit from four to two, but the Pioneers were unable to capitalize any further.

Pioneer guard Grant Morrison tallied half of the team’s 14 first quarter points as they took a 14-7 lead to the quarter break, but the Patriots’ beginning to eat away at Watauga’s early commanding lead corresponded closely to Pryor being whistled for his second foul midway through the first quarter — and forced to sit for the rest of the first half. Without Pryor clogging up the middle, the Pioneers’ inside defense softened enough for Apex Friendship to rally.

Watauga’s advantage narrowed to just five, 31-26, at intermission, then Apex closed to within two points, 40-38, with not even half of the third quarter gone. Then then=y tied the game, 46-46, to start the fourth quarter.

From there, tensions rose. First one, then the other would jump out to a four or five point lead only to have the advantage quickly reeled in. It was that kind of game, a nail biter to be sure and an entertaining end to a well-run holiday season basketball tournament.

In the third place game serving as the finale’s curtain raiser, Ashe County nearly overcame a large early deficit against Pine Lake, but in the end the Pride defeated the Huskies, 59-57.

Morrison and Ashe County’s Jake Grubb were both voted by the coaches to the all-tournament team, while Apex Friendship’s Noah Toster was named tournament MVP.

Next up for Watauga is a road trip on Tuesday, Jan. 3, to Lexington, where they will take on Central Davidson. The Pioneers open Northwestern Conference play on Friday, Jan. 6, at South Caldwell. The game at Central Davidson is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., following the two teams’ women’s game, while the men are slated to tipoff at South Caldwell at 8 p.m.

SCORING SUMMARY

• APX Noah Toster (22)
• WAT Grant Morrison (21)
• WAT Jackson Pryor (17)
• APX Terry Hicks (12)
• WAT Wyatt Keller (11)
• APX Jadon Green (10)
• WAT Wyatt Kohout (8)
• APX Drew Weschler (8)
• WAT Maddox Greene (3)
• APX Aiden Neiger (3)
• WAT Josiah Railey (2)
• APX Chuks Ezeonu (2)

BONUS PHOTOS