High school girls basketball: Back-to-back for Falcons
Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 16, 2024
By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com
WINSTON-SALEM — Several West Rowan senior standouts were able to finish their careers on the bench, laughing and crying and hugging, as reserves polished off a 64-52 victory over Terry Sanford.
That did not seem like a likely ending scenario with three minutes left, but Terry Sanford (26-6) ran out of gas and hit the wall and West kept getting stronger in Friday afternoon’s 3A state championship game at Joel Coliseum.
The Falcons repeated as 3A state champs. Salisbury pulled off a three-peat from 2008-10 and the Hornets won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, but the Falcons have placed themselves in an exclusive tier as far as repeat champs.
When the fourth quarter began, West was shooting 36 percent with 15 turnovers and fighting for its life, but the the Falcons (31-1) had a finishing kick left in them, and the Bulldogs from Fayetteville did not.
“Terry Sanford was tough on defense,” West coach Ashley Poole said. “They were tough and they were quick. But we kept working, and we found a way.”
West made five early turnovers and spent the first half playing uphill and trying to keep aggressive Terry Sanford off the offensive glass. Terry Sanford led 29-27 at the break.
‘We talked about rebounding at the half,” Poole said. “We hadn’t done a bad job of rebounding in the first half, but we talked about what it was going to take on the boards to close this thing out.”
MVP Lauren Arnold had 17 points and 17 rebounds. Emma Clarke, who was voted West’s Most Oustanding Player, had 13 points and 12 rebounds.
That’s a lot of rebounds. The Bulldogs missed a ton of shots.
West had a 49-31 advantage on the glass.
In the third quarter, West held Terry Sanford to nine points. It was 38-all when Makaylah Tenor swished a wide-open, left-side 3-pointer that probably was the biggest shot of the game. That key shot was West’s first made 3-pointer of the game and gave the Falcons a 41-38 lead.
Terry Sanford quickly got back to 41-40, but Arnold powered in a three-point play for 44-40, and now it was Terry Sanford’s turn to chase the Falcons.
West’s lead was only 50-48 near the 3-minute mark, but the Falcons finally had one of their patented flurries. When Tiara Thompson stoically made a set shot for West’s second 3-pointer, the Falcons led 55-48, and things snowballed from there with the Falcons cashing in free throws. Suddenly, it was 64-50, and it was all over.
“Terry Sanford really pushed us,” Poole said. “But we knew when it was time to go.”
Thompson scored 18 for the Falcons, who shot 8-for-14 in the fourth quarter to finish with 41-percent shooting. De’Mya Phifer had five assists.
Terry Sanford won the turnover battle 17-10, but shot just 29 percent and made only three of 20 3-point attempts.
West was able to clear the bench for the last 25 seconds, and reserves got to get on the floor and make a lifetime memory.
Clarke, Phifer, Arnold, Tenor and Thompson got to sit and watch the end of it, with waterfalls of emotion flowing.
Clarke fouled out late in the championship game last season, so this was a much better feeling.
“Well we did it again,” she said. “I got to sit there and hug all those girls and say that we did it.”
Terry Sanford 18 11 9 14 — 52
West Rowan 16 11 14 23 — 64
TERRY SANFORD — Roaf 18, Brown 17, Blake 9, Kaba 4, Meadows 2, Harrington 2.
WEST — Thompson 18, Arnold 17, Clarke 13, Phifer 6, Tenor 5, Edwards 3, Wilson 2, Hoffner, Martin, Clawson.
