Varsity Girls Eliminated by Hornets in State Tournament

By Joel Frady

Huskies slay Dragons in first round of tournament

The Ashe County High School girls basketball team opened the North Carolina 2-A state tournament with a home match against the West Davidson Dragons on Tuesday, Feb. 24, and had no problems eliminating the Dragons from the race.

From the opening tip-off, Ashe County dominated the game. Junior Caitlin Elliott got the Huskies started with four quick points in the first minute, and senior Kim McNeil followed with seven points of her own to put Ashe County up 11-0 in the first two-and-a-half minutes. West Davidson finally got on the board with a basket at the 5:22 mark, but was only able to muster five points of offense in the first quarter. The Dragons cut the lead to 13-5 at the 3:08 mark, but were unable to score for the rest of the quarter while the Huskies ran their lead up to 18-5.

The Huskies got off to another quick start in the second, scoring nine points in the first two minutes to go up 27-5. The Dragons created a few baskets over the course of the quarter, but were never able to make a run. Ashe County led 44-12 at the half.

The Huskies played much more conservatively in the second half, opting to take their time on offense and play a no-press defense. Still, the Huskies opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run and were up 58-18 by the end of the quarter. Ashe County played the final quarter just as conservatively, passing the ball a lot en route to a 67-28 victory.

Head coach Laura Foster said that she was "expecting a much better basketball team than what West David-son showed us," but added that she was "pleased with our effort in the first half.

"We started strong and put the game out of reach," she said. "We did a good job of establishing our inside game early."

With the win, the Huskies pushed their team-record win streak to 21 and their overall record to 26-1.

Hornets sting Huskies in second round

The Huskies' record-setting season and 21-game win streak both came to a crashing halt on Thursday, Feb. 26, when they hosted the Salisbury Hornets in a second-round game of the North Carolina 2-A state tourna-ment. After a season in which Ashe County defeated many opponents by large margins, the Huskies found themselves on the other end of a blowout.

It only took four minutes for the Hornets to set the tone for the game. They hit their first basket only 14 seconds after tip-off and capitalized on several early Ashe County turnovers. By the time Foster called a time out at the 4:56 mark, her team was down 9-0. By the time that senior Kendra Yearick hit a free throw to put the Huskies on the board, they were down 14-1.

Ashe County found some momentum midway through the quarter when they went on a 7-2 run to pull within 10, but the Hornets scored eight points in the last minute - including a three-point shot at the buzzer, to take a 26-8 lead after the opening quarter.

Baskets from Yearick and sophomore Mallary Clay cut the Hornet's lead to 28-12 early in the second, but Salisbury went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to go up 38-12. Clay hit two more free throws late in the quarter, but the Hornets ended the half on a 7-0 run to lead 45-14.

The Huskies were never able to recover and never got closer than 27 for the rest of the game. They finally found some offensive consistency in the fourth quarter, during which they outscored Salisbury 15-13, but the final scoreboard said it all: Salisbury 72, Ashe County 37.

"Salisbury is very good, but I don't think they're 35 points better than us," said Foster after the game. "We just didn't play like we know we could have. Salisbury's good, just flat out good. But, like I told them, to get to the regionals you're going to have to beat a solid, good team. When you beat good teams, you've got to play your best, and obviously we didn't. We try not to let this have a sour taste in our mouth, but simply be-cause we're competitive people it's going to."

Foster said that she focused on their season as a whole when she spoke with the team after the loss.

"We had a phenomenal year," she said, noting that they went 26-2 and were champions of the High Point Holiday Classic and the Mountain Valley Conference (both the regular season and the tournament).

"We've had a great year and we've got three outstanding seniors (Yearick, McNeil and Shelly Barker) that have shown these young people how to work hard in practice. Each younger player got something different from each senior, something that we needed, and that formed an outstanding leadership trio. We're cer-tainly going to miss them. What they do, not only on the court but off the court. We hope that everybody has learned how to lead from them.

"I hate to think that I'm not going to practice with them tomorrow," she continued. "Basketball is such a long season - we start this thing Oct. 26, and had a month of practice in June. It's just year-round, so once it's over it's hard for the coach because I'm so used to seeing them."

Foster noted that "when they look back on it, a week from now, they'll think 'Gosh, we had a great year.' I just wish we had played better tonight."

The Huskies will go back to work in June to prepare for the 2009-10 season. To find out more about the team, call the school at (336) 846-2400.