By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Visiting Hough High School women’s basketball came roaring back from a big first quarter deficit to tie the game before halftime, but host Watauga built on a 2-point, buzzer-beater lead at intermission — and held on in the second half to take a 66-56 win in front of a standing room only crowd in Lentz Eggers Gym on Feb. 28.
With the win, the No. 3-seeded Pioneers advance to the third round of the state 4A playoffs and will host No. 6 Northern Guilford on Tuesday, March 4. Watauga defeated the Nighthawks, 61-41, in a non-conference contest on the road, in Greensboro, but Northern Guilford grew into the season and finished No. 1 in the highly competitive, 4A Metro Conference and into the state playoffs with a 20-7 overall record, 12-4 in conference play.
Against Hough, Pioneer senior Kate Sears scored 12 of her game-high 33 points in just the first quarter, helping Watauga get off to a fast start, complimented by dramatic 3-pointers off the hands of sophomore Blair Haines and senior Julie Matheson. The Pioneers took a 20-13 advantage into the second quarter.
Hough recovered from the slow start, however, and tied the game at 24-24 with a little more than four minutes remaining in the first half, propelled by a deadly outside shooting performance from senior point guard Chloe Galombeck and the strong inside play of junior guard Kate Breault and sophomore guard Ka’Leiya Jones, the trio combining for 14 of the Huskies’ 19 total points in the second quarter, briefly taking the lead before Watauga’s Matheson buried a 3-pointer from the left corner, the half-ending buzzer going off as the ball arched through the air. The timely shot brought a roar from the crowd, giving the Pioneers a tenuous, 34-32 lead and their fans something to think about during the break.
“Hough is a really good team,” said Watauga head coach Bill Torgerson after the game. “The score (in Hough’s schedule) that really got our attention was they lost to Mallard Creek, 64-60… To have played Mallard Creek that tough alerted us that Hough would have a really good team. They have a bunch of shooters and they do a really nice job of driving and getting it to them. We were in a little bit of trouble, at least in the first half.”
Ultimately, said Torgerson, his team hung in there, executed and was able to pull away.
Early on, during the Huskies’ comeback rally, Torgerson admitted that Hough was taking advantage of the Pioneers’ defensive scheme.
“We had to make some changes, which helped, and then we started getting some good shots, including Julie Matheson’s buzzer beater 3-pointer at halftime,” said the Pioneers’ second year head coach. “They were doing a good job of cutting on the back side… but our vision got better as the game went along.”
Torgerson credited the chemistry between Sears and Kaitlyn Darner at the top of the key and some smart defensive stops by forward Chloe Wilson coming off the bench as major contributors to Watauga’s ability to extend the lead in the second half.
In Round 3, Watauga will meet a Northern Guilford team that romped past Rocky River in the first round, 48-31, then held off Charlotte Catholic, 65-57, in the second round.
SCORING SUMMARY
- WAT – Kate Sears (33 points)
- WAT – Julie Matheson (12)
- WAT – Blair Haines (12)
- WAT – Izzy Torgerson (6)
- WAT – Chloe Wilson (2)
- WAT – Kaitlyn Darner (1)
- HGH – Sophia Zoerb (17)
- HGH – Chloe Galombeck (15)
- HGH – Kate Breault (10)
- HGH – Jacquelyn Jakubecy (6)
- HGH – Ka’Leiya Jones (6)
