By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Having four players in double figures scoring is a good way to win basketball games, especially when it is combined with good defense and exceptional rebounding on both ends of the floor. Watauga’s women’s basketball team found that to be a winning formula on Dec. 2, running by regional rival Avery County, 78-46.
Point guard Kate Sears and shooting guard Charlotte Torgerson tallied 11 points each in the opening quarter, individually scoring more than the Vikings entire team (10) during the period. For the entire contest, Sears finished with a game-high 25 points while Torgerson’s 21 points wasn’t far behind.
They approached getting the ball into the basket differently on this night. While Sears did have two buckets from long distance in the second quarter, most of her points came from inside the paint, either driving the lane or from along the baseline. Torgerson hit three from beyond the arc and added a fourth in the final quarter. From “downtown,” Torgerson was good on 4-of-5 three-point attempts.
Watauga’s Brooke Scheffler and Caroline Farthing joined Sears and Torgerson in double figures, each accounting for 11 points. Most of the work by these two forwards was done inside, a lot of the work cleaning up under the basket, rebounding.
The Vikings were led in the scoring column by Maddy Barrett (9), Zoie McClarrin, Cora Hollifield (8) and Khloe Burleson (7).
“I asked the team for energy coming into the game, before it started,” said Watauga head coach Laura Barry afterwards. “I thought we had that. I liked the pressure and we forced the pace, which is what we wanted to do. We gave up some rebounds and some open threes, but overall our offensive pace dictated the game. Everything is better when you hit shots, but we worked for open shots and took good ones. We really set the tone early.”
Next action for the Pioneers will be at home on Dec. 6 vs. A.C. Reynolds. The non-conference encounter is scheduled to tipoff at 6:30 p.m. There is a home-and-away series schedule for Dec. 9 (home) and Dec. 13 (away) with Mountain Heritage (Burnsville, N.C.), then a pre-Christmas tournament in Cherokee, N.C., Dec. 20-22, before returning home to host R J Reynolds in the first round of the High Country Holiday Classic on Dec. 28.
The Vikings have five home games before Christmas, including St. Stephens (Dec. 6), Ashe County (Dec. 9), Rosman (conference game, Dec. 12), Draughn (conference game, Dec. 16), and McDowell (non-conference, Dec. 20). They have one additional game before Christmas, on Dec. 22, at Rosman (conference game).
SCORING
- WAT Kate Sears (25)
- WAT Charlotte Torgerson (21)
- WAT Brooke Scheffler (11)
- WAT Caroline Farthing (11)
- AVY Maddy Barratt (9)
- AVY Zoie McClarrin (9)
- AVY Cora Hollifield (8)
- AVY Khloe Burleson (7)
- WAT Julie Matheson (6)
- AVY Hannah Mace (5)
- AVY Emree Hoilman (4)
- WAT Diane McGlamery (2)
- WAT Gracie Lawrence (1)
- WAT Kaitlin Darner (1)
- AVY Cassidy Lee (1)
- AVY Hope Howell (1)
