By David Rogers. BOONE, N.C. — With a 40-point lead early in the fourth quarter, Watauga head coach Laura Barry was able to empty her women’s basketball bench against Julius Chambers High School (Charlotte), in the first round of the North Carolina 4A state playoffs. The Pioneers won in a runaway, 83-46.
BONUS PHOTOS at bottom of article
Although Chambers is the 2021-22 season’s 4A state champion, only one player remains from last year’s roster, guard Amiaya Hall. Nonetheless, the Cougars have a tall, athletic group of players, even if not the equal of a Watauga team that came to play basketball in all of its phases.
“I am really proud of our kids,” Barry told High Country Sports after the game. “They came out on fire for Round 1. We were all business tonight. We came out here ready to play knowing that these 4A teams coming up from Charlotte can play. We had a measure of confidence coming into the game tonight, having beaten this team in the first game of the season, in November, but you can’t take plays off when you play these Charlotte teams.”
While Watauga got scoring leadership from the usual suspects in Kate Sears (26 points), Charlotte Torgerson (22) and Brooke Scheffler (16), the Pioneers had offensive contributions up and down the main roster. Six other Watauga players got in the scorebook including Julie Matheson (5), Laurel Kiker (4), Kaitlyn Darner (4) and two apiece from Caroline Farthing, Diane McGlamery and Gracie Lawrence.
Chambers won the opening tipoff, but that was just about all they won on the night. The Cougars promptly lost the ball to the Pioneers and Sears made the Round 1 visitors pay by driving the lane for and up and in to draw the proverbial first blood on the night. Then it seemed like a blink of an eye before Watauga was ahead 6-0 after two more Cougar turnovers, prompting an early Chambers timeout to regroup. It didn’t help, as Watauga closed out the first quarter with a whopping, 18-3 lead, with Scheffler and Darner accounting for 7 and 4 of those first period points, respectively.
Watauga poured it on in the second quarter, with Sears and Torgerson (9 and 8, respectively) finding their rhythm and Scheffler (4) continuing to produce inside. Thanks to the Cougars’ Hall (5 points in the period), Jada Richardson (5) and Nia Kirk (4), Chambers was able to get on the board but the visitors’ turnover issues persisted and the Pioneers took a 43-18 lead into halftime.
It would only get worse for Chambers, as Sears led the Pioneers on a 21-9 run in the third period, expanding the lead to 64-27 as the two teams headed into the final stanza at Lentz Eggers Gym. Even with Barry inserting primarily bench players in the final period, giving them valuable time on the hardwoods, Watauga expanded the lead to its final, 83-46 final. Once the lead got to 40 in the fourth quarter, the game clock never stopped under the mercy rule of North Carolina high school basketball.
Watauga will now host the winner of R J Reynolds and Northwest Guilford, also played on Tuesday, Feb. 21. Round 2 will be played in Lentz Eggers Gym on Thursday, Feb. 23.
SCORING SUMMARY
- WAT Kate Sears (26)
- WAT Charlotte Torgerson (22)
- CHM Jada Richardson (18)
- WAT Brooke Scheffler (16)
- CHM Amiaya Hall (12)
- WAT Julie Matheson (5)
- CHM Nia Kirk (5)
- WAT Laurel Kiker (4)
- WAT Kaitlyn Darner (4)
- CHM Emani Johnson (4)
- CHM Lakatie Piggee (3)
- WAT Caroline Farthing (2)
- WAT Gracie Lawrence (2)
- WAT Diane McGlamery (2)
- CHM Bethani Overby (1)
BONUS PHOTOS
