By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — Watauga varsity women’s basketball coach Laura Barry may have to start calling forward Brooke Scheffler and shooting guard Charlotte Torgerson her “bookends.” In the Pioneers’ more than convincing, 72-47 win over A C Reynolds on Dec. 6, Scheffler scored 17 of her 19 points in the first half, while Torgerson tallied 17 of her game-high 23 points in the second half.
It was raining Pioneer three-pointers — 15 of them — against the Rockets. Scheffler (4) and Torgerson (7) had 11 of them combined. Point guard Kate Sears made two shots from beyond the arc, while Laurel Kiker and Caroline Farthing were successful on one each.
While Sears may have had an “off” night in the scoring column with 14 points, her distribution (AKA assists), rebounds, steals and overall defense more than made up for any offensive deficiency.
In fact, Watauga’s overall team defense was outstanding against a very good A C Reynolds team that appeared to have a distinct height advantage, particularly in the form of senior center/power forward Landyn Stewart. At one point in the second half, the Pioneer women had a 40-point lead over their Asheville-based rivals, Barry admitting after the game that she wanted to address with the team its allowing the Rockets to cut that lead in half during the fourth quarter.
“When these girls are ‘on’ like they were tonight,” Barry said to High Country Sports after the game, “this team is very good.”
At 4-1 on the young season, with signature wins over two quality Charlotte-based schools, Myers Park and Chambers, Watauga is now ranked No. 17 by MaxPreps in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s 4AWest Division, behind No. 1-ranked Northern Guilford, as well as behind Northwestern Conference rival Alexander Central, which MaxPreps has at No. 3 in the West.
Next up for the Pioneers is a home tilt on Dec. 9 against Mountain Heritage (Burnsville), the as yet undefeated (5-0) 1A/2A power. Watauga and Mountain Heritage complete their 2022 non-conference series four days later, on Dec. 13, when the Pioneers travel to Burnsville to face the Cougars on their home court.
SCORING
- WAT Charlotte Torgerson (23)
- ACR Peyton Harvey (21)
- WAT Brooke Scheffler (19)
- WAT Kate Sears (14)
- ACR Landyn Stewart (11)
- ACR Jenna Barnes (11)
- WAT Caroline Farthing (5)
- WAT Laurel Kiker (5)
- WAT Kaitlyn Darner (4)
- ACR Anna Wilcox (4)
- WAT Julie Matheson (2)
- ACR Julie Janus (2)
