Ashe Varsity Girls Win MVC Tournament Championship

By Joel Frady

Huskies fly past Eagles for third time
Four days after suffering a 78-46 road loss to the Ashe County Huskies varsity girls basketball team, the

Wilkes Central Eagles made their way back to West Jefferson on Wednesday, Feb. 18, for a rematch in the semifinals of the Mountain Valley Conference tournament.

Despite a slow start, the Huskies had no problem putting their Wilkes rival down for a third time to advance to the Mountain Valley title game.

Both teams started out hot, trading baskets over the first minute of the game as Ashe took an early 4-3 lead. The Huskies led by four twice in the quarter, at 8-4 and 10-6, but after the Eagles cut the Ashe County lead to 10-7 at the 2:54 mark both teams went cold and neither team scored for the remainder of the quarter.

The Huskies' slow start continued for the first two minutes of the second quarter, and when Wilkes Central cut the Huskies' lead to 12-11 Ashe County Head Coach Laura Foster had seen enough and decided to use a timeout.

"At first, their zone sort of caught us off guard because normally Wilkes Central doesn't zone," she said. "When you prepare for a team, you're thinking of what they've done to you in the past," so they hadn't pre-pared to face a zone defense.

When the teams returned from the time out, it was a different Ashe County team. They went on a 14-0 run over the next five minutes, with senior Kendra Yearick scoring seven points over that stretch. By the time the Eagles scored again, a lone free throw at the 1:32 mark, they were already in a 15-point hold that led to a 32-14 halftime deficit.

Wilkes Central finally found some offensive consistency in the second half, but the Huskies made baskets of their own and prevented Wilkes Central from ever making a significant run. Ashe County led 49-32 after the third quarter and easily captured the 56-42 victory.

Foster said the difference in the game was the second quarter run, during which time the Huskies grabbed offensive rebounds and converted their second chances into points.

"We made some shots," she said, "and when you make shots, it's easier to play defense."

Foster also noted that home court advantage helped.

"It's good we had them on our own court," she said. "We beat them at their place, but they're a different team at their place."

Greyhounds advance to finals with win over Rams
The North Surry Greyhounds and the Starmount Rams met on the court of Ashe County High School in West Jefferson on Thursday, Feb. 19, to play for a spot in the conference tournament finals. Both teams fought hard and exchanged the lead several times before North Surry finally pulled away in the fourth quarter for the 51-47 victory.

The Greyhounds got off to a hot start, going up 8-3 in the first four minutes. But Starmount fought back, cut-ting the North Surry lead to one on two separate occasions and trailing by three, 12-9, at the end of the quar-ter.

The Rams continued to chip away at the North Surry lead as the second quarter progressed, finally stealing the lead, 19-18, at the 1:10 mark. North Surry tied the game at 20 with 36 seconds remaining in the half, but Starmount sophomore Becca Aplin hit a shot at the buzzer to give the Rams a 22-20 lead at halftime.

The battle raged into the third quarter, which featured four ties and three lead changes. But after Lindsey Payne of North Surry made a basket at the 2:05 mark to give her team a 33-31 lead, neither team was able to score for the remainder of the quarter.

North Surry capitalized from the free throw line down the stretch, hitting eight-of-11 free throws in the fourth quarter. The Rams only hit two-of-six and were never able to get closer than two for the rest of the game. Jordan Raye of Starmount did hit a three-point shot with 18 seconds remaining to pull within 49-47, but Emily Cullen of North Surry calmly hit two free throws to ice the game with eight seconds on the clock.

With the 51-47 victory, North Surry advanced to Friday's title game against Ashe County.

Huskies sneak past Greyhounds for MVC championship
For the third time this season, the Ashe County varsity girls earned another hard-fought, single-digit victory over the North Surry Greyhounds. Both of their previous meetings with the Greyhounds had been signifi-cant, with the 57-52 home victory on Jan. 30 basically sealing the Huskies' regular season conference cham-pionship.

The title match on Friday, Feb. 20, in West Jefferson, much like the first two meetings, came down to the final quarter.

North Surry started strong, posting a 7-4 in the first few minutes. They stretched their lead to five, 11-6, be-fore the Huskies went on a tear over the final 30 seconds of the first quarter.

Sophomore Mallary Clay sparked the run with a basket at the 30 second mark. Senior Kim McNeil converted a three-point play 14 seconds later to tie the game at 11, and Yearick drew a foul with one second remaining and sunk both free throws for a 13-11 lead.

The second quarter was just as up and down, with North Surry tying the game on three separate occasions and taking a 23-20 lead with 3:03 remaining. But just like the first quarter, the Huskies scored the final five points to lead 25-23 at the half.

The Huskies opened the third quarter with four straight points to earn a 29-23 lead, but North Surry came back. North Surry freshman Morgan Midkiff scored five points in less than a minute to spark a 7-0 run that gave the Greyhounds a one-point lead.

Foster called a timeout, and her squad responded. Clay scored five straight points to start an 11-0 run and a 40-30 Huskies' lead.

North Surry responded over the last 90 seconds of the quarter, however, with Midkiff and senior Shante Ashmon each scoring five points (including Midkiff's buzzer-beating three-point shot) to cut the Huskies' lead to two at 42-40.

Much like the third quarter, the Huskies built a double-digit lead over the first three minutes of the final quarter only to watch North Surry cut it to four. But a few successful free throws and a giant block by Ashe County sophomore Lizzie Hanes with 27 seconds remaining in t

he game helped the Huskies clinch the 58-53 win and the tournament championship.

"I'm lost for words," said Foster, after the game. "I'm just so proud of this team, couldn't be any more proud of them. In this type of game, with Shelley [Barker] down, everybody just stepped up and we played so out-standing."

She felt that her team's depth was important to the title run.

"All these kids have played all year," said Foster. "They've been in these situations before, and that's why I play a lot of people."

The victory was the 20th in a row for the Lady Huskies, who have doubled the school's previous record win-ning streak of 10. They will now put the streak to the ultimate test in the state tournament, starting with a home match against East Davidson on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

"We just like our chances," Foster said of the state tournament, noting that winning the conference tourna-ment gives them "super momentum" moving forward.

The Huskies hosted West Davidson in their first-round game of the state tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 24. The final score was not available at press time, but a win would mean that the Huskies would play their sec-ond round game at home on Thursday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. against either Salisbury High School or East Lincoln High School.

If they win on Thursday, the Huskies would also host a third-round game on Friday, Feb. 26. To find out more or for updates, contact Ashe County High School at (336) 846-2400.