Varsity Girls Win Regular-Season Conference Championship

By Joel Frady

Huskies Rip Eagles, 78-46
The Ashe County High School girls basketball team wrapped up their 2008-09 regular season in style on

Thursday, Feb. 12, as they handily defeated the visiting Wilkes Central Eagles on Senior Night to claim the regular season Mountain Valley conference championship. The Huskies are 11-1 in the conference and ran the table after a heartbreaking 69-68 loss at Starmount on Dec. 19, 2008. Overall, the team has won 17 straight games.

Head Coach Laura Foster was expecting a hard-fought match like the 47-39 victory her players earned in Wilkesboro on Jan. 21. But the Huskies got off to a fast start, opening the game on a 9-4 run. Sophomore Mallary Clay led the attack during the first quarter, scoring six straight points down the stretch to give Ashe County a 19-10 lead.

Wilkes Central pulled to within seven in the second quarter, 23-16, before back-to-back baskets from sophomore Chandler Christensen and senior Kim McNeil gave Ashe County a double-digit lead at 27-16. Wilkes Central never pulled within single digits again and trailed 37-19 at the half.

Ashe County started the third quarter on a roll, going on a 11-0 run to stretch the lead to 48-22. Wilkes Central made a run of their own as the quarter progressed but were still down 58-35 going into the final quarter.

Foster pulled the seniors out of the game midway through the fourth quarter, and they walked off the court as the crowd gave them a standing ovation. The team cruised the rest of the way to earn the 78-46 victory and the outright conference championship.

"I thought we played an outstanding game," said Foster. "It was an intense game for 32 minutes, but I thought we just did a real good job defensively and we outrebounded them by 14.

"We came ready to play," she continued. "We knew what was at stake and we got the job done."

On winning the regular season conference championship, she said that it was "something we set our goals on early as something we wanted to do. After losing the very first conference game of the year and then, from there on, running the table - it feels good.

"I'm so proud of my kids and how hard they've played all year," she said. "It's just a super feeling because all of their hard work is getting recognized with a conference title."

The win also earned the Huskies the only bye in the conference tournament, which Ashe County High School will be hosting. Foster noted that having the tournament at home is "an added bonus."

Conference Tournament in West Jefferson
With the best regular season in program history behind them, the Huskies will attempt to add a conference title during this week's conference tournament in West Jefferson. With the bye, they will face the winner of the Wilkes Central-Forbush game on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

The other semifinal game will be played at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, between the winners of the North Surry-North Wilkes game and the Starmount-Surry Central game.

If the Huskies win on Wednesday, they would play in the tournament championship game at 6:30 p.m. on Friday

Foster is confident her team can make noise in the tournament, saying "I feel like I have the best team." But the team is still without senior Shelley Barker, "so that's frustrating for us to really be down a player, but everyone else is stepping up."

The semifinals and finals will both be held at Ashe County High School in West Jefferson. Admission is $5 each night.

For more information about the tournament, call tournament director Scott Grubb at Ashe County High School at (336) 846-2400.