By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Mountain Heritage came into Lentz Eggers Gym on Dec. 9 as a so far undefeated women’s basketball team in the young 2022-23 season and, through Dec. 8, was the No. 1 ranked team in North Carolina’s 1A (small school) West Division. They are no longer undefeated.
What started out as a first quarter nail biter quickly morphed into a dominant team win for host Watauga, the Pioneers cruising by the Cougars, 53-37.
Watauga head coach Laura Barry frequently preaches the Pioneers’ goal of being a really good team whose roster happens to have a really good player on it in the form of sophomore point guard Kate Sears.
Well, now it can be said: her team is practicing what Barry is preaching, with growing confidence in what they are about.
In 2021-22, Sears most often opened a game penetrating and distributing the ball out to teammates, getting them involved in the game early. But if that wasn’t producing points, she would take charge and produce those points herself, whether driving the lane or hitting from beyond the 3-point arc.
For 2022-23, observers see a different Sears and a different Watauga team. It is a team where if Sears is effectively defended by an opponent or just having an off night shooting, others are stepping up and filling any offensive void.
Just like the Dec. 6 game vs. A.C. Reynolds when Sears was having an “off” night shooting the ball and teammates Charlotte Torgerson, Brooke Scheffler and Caroline Farthing in particular had a major hand in accounting for a whopping 15 Watauga 3-point shots made, the Mountain Heritage game played out similarly.
Against Mountain Heritage, Sears was aggressive from the get-go, offensively, but very much to their credit the Cougars were effective in stopping the Watauga sophomore point guard, disrupting her possessions, blocking shots and even blocking her path down the lane.
But, especially this year, defending against Sears comes at a high cost. Scheffler, Torgerson, Farthing, Kaitlyn Darner and Laurel Kiker (who did not play on Dec. 9 while in concussion protocol) have all emerged as serious offensive threats. And with senior Kiker out for Friday’s game vs. Heritage, sophomore Julie Matheson got more minutes and elevated her play on both ends of the court.
When you combine Watauga’s offensive diversity with the team’s passionate defensive efforts, the Pioneers are unlikely to be dominated by any but a taller, equally athletic and well-coached opponent — and very likely to be in every contest to its very end.
In speaking with High Country Sports after the Mountain Heritage game, Barry seemed to relish her charges’ growing confidence in themselves and in one another.
“Mountain Heritage is a very good team and it was going to take time to get separation, if we were going to do that,” said Barry. “At the start of the game it was pretty physical and tough, and we weren’t making shots but I thought we did a really good job, rebounding. So that was a big early positive for us, that rebounding. Then, as the shots started to fall you could just see the team’s confidence grow. And that has happened the last three games (against Avery County, A C Reynolds and Mountain Heritage). We battle, we make a few shots and suddenly we are up by 10 points. We still have to work on our offense, especially in breaking a defense down, but I like where we are at right now…
“… Everyone on the floor is gaining some confidence. You saw Scheffler again contributing in the first half. You saw Darner hitting in the first half and Charlotte (Torgerson) getting shots off of rebounds. We are (taking advantage) of each other’s strengths. Kate (Sears) can take most other players, one on one, but she also kicks the ball out well to her teammates so it makes it hard for any opposing team to defend,” Barry said.
Watauga’s next opponent is also against Mountain Heritage, in Burnsville as the back end of the home-and-home series with the Cougars. That game will be Tuesday, Dec. 12, and followed by another big contest at Lake Norman on Friday, Dec. 15.
The game against Lake Norman may prove to be one of the season’s best challenges for the Pioneers as the Wildcats are sport an 8-0 record, with dominant wins against all opponents except for a squeaker, 67-66 win over North Mecklenburg on Dec. 3.
Through MaxPreps’ Dec. 8 rankings, Watauga and Lake Norman were at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, in the North Carolina 4A West region, behind No. 1 Mallard Creek, No. 2 Charlotte Catholic, and No. 3 Asheville. Now at 5-1, Watauga was ranked No. 24 in the state vs. teams in all divisions, Lake Norman at No. 34, out of the 432 member high schools of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
VS. MOUNTAIN HERITAGE, SELECTED STATISTICAL LEADERS
- WAT Kate Sears: 26 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block
- MTN Keira Wilson: 16 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals
- WAT Brooke Scheffler: 9 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block
- WAT Charlotte Torgerson: 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists
- MTN Cloey Morrow: 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist
- WAT Caroline Farthing: 4 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
- WAT Julie Matheson: 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 steals
- MTN Lilly Neill: 4 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals
- WAT Kaitlyn Darner: 3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists
- MTN Kaydence Kooles: 1 point, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block
