West Rowan boys basketball coach Mike Gurley was happy for Andrew Mitchell when the Salisbury girls beat Graham 56-41 last season for the 2A state championship.
Why?
“I think I knew what Andrew was feeling because we won it the same way,” Gurley said.
Gurley was referring to 1995, when his Lexington boys team gave him his first state title. He watched with interest as Salisbury surged to the top.
For Salisbury to win its second state title in five years, it had to overcome the demon that was East Davidson. Three times it had lost to the No. 1-ranked Golden Eagles.
“Salisbury knew it was good, but in the back of their minds, when there’s that one foe you can’t beat, it tends to hold you back a little,” Gurley said. “In our particular season, we couldn’t beat North Rowan or West Rowan.”
That’s why he was pulling so hard for Mitchell when the Hornets met East Davidson in the West Regional final.
The Hornets finally did it, outlasting the Golden Eagles 26-24.
Gurley had flashbacks. His first state championship came after the Yellow Jackets beat North Rowan in the last seconds of the sectional final by two points and defeated West Rowan on a layup in the last second of the regional final.
“Like Salisbury, we had to overcome some of our past fears,” Gurley said.
With the weight of beating East Davidson off their shoulders, the state championship game was almost a breeze for the Hornets.
“Andy struggled all year to beat East Davidson. When they won, I knew that elevated those girls’ confidence,” Gurley said.
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Mitchell remembers all too well what it was like beating East Davidson. He was calm on the outside, but his stomach was in knots. In a very intense contest in front of a packed house in Greensboro, Mitchell made a coaching move that would make or break the run-and-gun Hornets.
He decided to hold the ball.
“I wanted the girls to take wide-open layups,” Mitchell said. “It says something about the leaders on the floor.”
He did not relax once his girls made the 2A final.
“I was a little concerned that after East Davidson we would exhale,” Mitchell said. “I didn’t want them to forget that we had one left. But we had five seniors and strong leadership that wouldn’t allow us to lay down.”
Salisbury outscored Graham 34-16 in the second half as Mitchell joined Gurley as the only current Rowan coaches to win a basketball state title this century.
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Will Salisbury’s confidence carry over in the quest for a second straight championship season?
When Mitchell got up for the first day of practice this season, he wondered what he’d wear.
He chose the T-shirt touting Jennifer Shoaf’s 31-0 championship team of 2004.
“It just happened to be sitting there,” Mitchell said. “It was already ironed.
An omen, perhaps?
Mitchell cheerfully pulled it on. He said he wore it to send a message.
“This is where we want to be,” he told his girls.
Gurley will again be following Mitchell’s path. He can give the Hornets’ coach advice on winning back-to-back titles.
In 2002, led by senior Donte Minter, West went 30-0 and won the 3A state title.
“We had been knocking on the door so many times,” Gurley said. “When we finally won it, we were in such a relaxed state, it just freed us up to go play in 2003. Getting over that East Davidson hump, Salisbury will probably feel that way, too.”
Gurley speaks the truth. Salisbury ripped East Rowan 80-31 in the season opener and looked like a well-oiled machine. Eleven of the 12 Hornets scored.
Mitchell was impressed with what he saw, considering, like Gurley, he lost some pretty important seniors.
Gurley figured someone would step up after Minter’s departure, and he was right. Junior Hairston and Phillip Williams took charge.
The Holmes sisters, Jessica Heilig and Olivia Rankin joined star Bubble Phifers as the new faces stepping up for Mitchell in that opener, replacing the likes of Shi-Heria Shipp and De’Rya Wylie.
“Andy has a lot of girls back,” Gurley said, “but they’re going to play new roles. They’ll rise up, the same way Junior and Phillip did.”
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Gurley went 31-0 in 2003, the same number on Mitchell’s shirt. Mitchell wants to match it. Players have even said they want to go undefeated like the Shayla Fields-led Hornets of 2004.
“They did it with no losses,” Mitchell said. “If we’re going to be special or elite, we have to do it.”
And if it happens, it will be because of the Mitchell Way: Never let up. Make your teammates better.
“Success keeps you going,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got a shot if we stay focused and continue playing together.”
If he’s anything, Mitchell is a humble man, not wanting to sound arrogant about the talk of an undefeated season.
Gurley smiled when told that. He was in the same position during the preseason of 2003. He felt his Falcons could repeat as state champions.
“It’s not an arrogance,” Gurley said. “It’s a confidence. You know you can climb the mountain together. It’s an added edge that makes you a little more invincible.”
Gurley says Salisbury can repeat because:
A. “Andrew deserves it.”
B. “He has worked really hard.”
C. “This season, he and his girls are going to put everything into repeating.”
“My goal every year is winning the last game of the season,” Mitchell said. “In high school, it’s the state championship.”
Gurley expects Mitchell and Salisbury to be there in March. He even recited lyrics from a song by The Who:
Who’s the new boss?
Same as the old boss.Gurley says everything revolves around that triumph against East Davidson.
“After they got over that hump, they had no anxiety,” Gurley said. “They could’ve probably played the Phoenix Mercury. I know Andy’s gotta be excited.”