By David Rogers. RALEIGH, N.C. — In the opening rounds of the 51st Annual John Wall Holiday Invitational, Watauga faced last season’s 4A nemesis and a new 4A rival, both losses for the young Pioneers’ varsity women’s basketball team.
Round 1 vs. Charlotte Catholic
Led by a towering, 6-5 center in senior Blanca Thomas and 6-0 senior guard Gracynn Gough, Charlotte Catholic started out with a significant height advantage that would prove troublesome for any hopes Watauga might have had for scoring in the paint. To counter, they needed to hit from long distance — so a “cold” morning shooting performance from behind the 3-point arc did not produce the desired result. Charlotte Catholic prevailed, 60-48, in the tournament’s opening game.
With Thomas making good on 63 percent of her shots from the field, mostly layups inside the paint, the Pioneers needed to do better than shooting 18.5 percent (5-of-27 attempts) from behind the arc. It didn’t help that Watauga shot only 58 percent from the charity stripe (11-of-19).
Thomas led all scorers with 26 points and completed a double-double with 12 rebounds. Maggie Kemodle (12 points) and Harper McKain (11 points) were also in double figures for the Cougars, who also saw Olivia Fava dish out 6 assists.
Junior guard Kate Sears poured in 19 points, collected 7 rebounds, and recorded 6 assists for the Pioneers, all team-highs. Charlotte Torgerson added 12 points and Julie Matheson 8 points to aid the Pioneer cause.
It was the Thomas-led Cougars that first defeated Watauga in the Cherokee Invitational in late December last season, then proved the Pioneers’ nemesis again in the 4th round of the 2022-23 NCHSAA 4A Women’s Basketball State Playoffs.
Round 2 vs. Rolesville
The Rolesville Rams are no stranger to playing among the elite, North Carolina 4A women’s basketball teams. In the 2022-23 East bracket, like Watauga in the West, Rolesville lost in the 4th round, to the East bracket’s No. 1 seed Hillside.
Against Watauga, Rolesville trailed 20-7 at the end of the first quarter and looked to be outmatched by the hot shooting Pioneers who moved the ball around the court to an open player, seemingly at will.
But the Rams fought back in the second stanza, outscoring Watauga 18-10 to trail by only five points at the break. Rolesville outpointed the Pioneers 15-7 in the third period, taking their first lead at 38-37. In the early part of the fourth, it looked like the Rams would run away with the game, taking a 10-point lead at one point, but Watauga battled back to tie the game at 52-52 with 36 seconds left to play. The Rams went ahead, 55-52, at which point Kate Sears collected a rebound with scarcely five seconds remaining, dribbled down court in a frenzy and launched a desperation 3-pointer that would have tied the game had it gone in.
While Sears posted a game-high 16 points, she was the only Pioneer in double figures and it just wasn’t enough to offset the Rams’ scoring offensive with four players in double figures: Taliya Rowe (14), Caitlyn Jones (13), Laila Lewis (13), and Kayla Bush (12). Sears also had a team-high five assists for Watauga, while the Rams’ Jones recorded a game-high eight assists.
Again with a height disadvantage, Watauga shot a more respectable 28.1 percent from behind the 3-point arc (9-of-32). Rolesville won the day with a 24-18 advantage inside the paint.
Watauga will play again on Saturday, Dec. 30, 10:30 a.m. in the game to determine the Wonderland bracket’s 7th place finisher. As of press time, the opponent had not been determined.
