RIVALRY REVERSAL: Draughn girls upset EB again, reach WPC 3A/4A title tilt

Once may or may not be an accident.

But twice is the start of a trend.

And the Draughn girls basketball team proved last week’s regular-season road win over rival East Burke was no fluke, again coming from behind to take down the host Lady Cavaliers by a 39-33 score on Wednesday in the semifinals of the Western Piedmont 3A/4A Conference tournament.

It was Draughn’s third all-time win at EB, with two of those coming in the last six days, and marked the first time the Lady Wildcats have ever beaten the Lady Cavs in the postseason.

“I think it’s a testament to our defense that we’ve been playing,” said Draughn ninth-year head coach Liz Taylor. “Our whole goal in this game was to prove that we deserved that win last time and it wasn’t a fluke. So that’s what we talked about before (the game). We talked about being hungry for this game too, and I think they were. I’m just excited for (the girls) that we proved we deserved to win.”

The win lifted No. 3 seed Draughn (19-7) to its first conference tournament championship game appearance since its inaugural season of 2008-09 as it still seeks a first league tourney title.

The Lady ’Cats late Friday faced No. 1 seed Hibriten (25-1) in Icard for the title.

“They beat us twice this year, so we’re going to have to play our best game,” Taylor said. “But I know the girls want to win, and I am hopeful that we can pull it out.”

Wednesday’s entire contest was played within an 11-point window, as Draughn never led by more than its final margin and No. 2 EB (19-7) led only by as much as five late in the third period.

And just like the previous meeting when Draughn trailed EB by eight points at halftime, the visiting Lady ’Cats finished strong, ending a game that featured 11 lead changes and six ties on a 17-6 scoring run.

Draughn took the lead for good at 33-30 on a Taylor Holder 3-pointer with 2:20 remaining. A stepback jumper by EB freshman Sarabeth Bradley trimmed the margin to 33-32, but that was the hosts’ final made field goal.

And the Wildcats’ Holder (4 for 4) and fellow senior guard Jacey Davis (2 for 2) were perfect at the free-throw line in the final 45 seconds of the game, while the Lady Cavs made just one of four foul shots in that same crunch-time stretch.

Holder scored a game-high 17 points (13 in second half) and led Draughn with three steals, while Davis added nine points and three assists and Lindsey Hensley grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Belle Gwyn made three first-half 3s and led EB with 15 points, five rebounds, and four steals. Bradley posted an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double, and Frankie Gwyn supplied a team-high four assists in defeat.

Both teams advanced to the semifinals by virtue of first-round home wins Tuesday night, with Draughn beating Patton, 55-20, and EB eliminating West Caldwell, 41-21.

The Lady ’Cats scored at least 13 points in each of the first three periods while limiting No. 6 seed Patton to six or fewer in each of those frames as they built a 48-16 lead. Berry and Davis shared team-high honors with 15 points against Patton (7-18), with Holder adding nine points and Mati Kincaid adding eight.

Junior guard Emma Rolland led the Lady Panthers in scoring for a third consecutive game, finishing with seven points.

Bradley scored 23 points in EB’s first-round victory, with Frankie and Belle Gwyn adding six and five points, respectively.

East Burke, Patton boys tripped in WPC semifinals

Both the East Burke and Patton boys teams won WPC tournament openers at home Tuesday but were eliminated from the event with semifinal losses Wednesday in Icard.

The No. 3 seed Cavaliers (11-14) survived a scare from No. 6 R-S Central in round one, winning 50-49, before suffering a 52-39 loss in the rubber match versus No. 2 Hibriten the following day.

EB led 20-9 after one period and 25-21 at the half on Tuesday but had to escape a 38-32 hole after three periods to eke out the victory.

Tyler Brown scored a team-high 16 points for the Cavaliers, with Carter Bennett and Luke Demiter each adding 14 points.

Then against Hibriten, EB stormed back from an early 16-3 deficit to trail just 21-19 midway through the second period, when its rally ran out of steam. The Cavs still trailed by just six at halftime, but after an 11-4 Panther surge to open the third period, they never cut the margin to single digits again.

Rylan Bargsley canned four 3s en route to a team-high 12 points for EB, while Lincoln Burns (10 points, two blocks) and Luke Demiter (four points) hauled in six rebounds apiece and Carter Bennett supplied seven points and four assists.

No. 4 Patton (15-11) topped No. 5 West Caldwell for a second time in as many nights, 82-77, but saw its season-best four-game win streak snapped in a 78-50 loss to No. 1 East Rutherford.

The Panthers trailed the Warriors 13-11 after one quarter but used a 24-15 edge in the second period to take the lead before hanging on for the win.

Patton senior Nathan Waters splashed in five 3s as he scored 20-plus points for a third time in the team’s four-game streak, finishing with a game-high 22 points. He was joined in double figures by teammates Olando Norman (19), Kyle Taylor (15), and Landry Duvall (10).

Patton then trailed East Rutherford just 14-12 after one quarter and 35-31 at the half before East ran away and hid with a 26-9 third period advantage. Norman (14), Waters (13), and Taylor (13) — each of whom averages 14 or more points per game — hit double digits again despite the setback.

No. 7 seed Draughn (3-22) did not reach the WPC semis, falling 87-56 at Hibriten in round one on Tuesday. Cayden Lewis paced the Wildcats with 16 points, while Titus Dodd added 12, Henry Cooper had 11, Christian Hubbard scored nine, and Noah Chrisco had six.

Freedom teams both stumble in NWC semis

It can be difficult to beat a team three times in a season, which is what the Freedom boys were looking to do against South Caldwell in the semifinals of the Northwestern 6A/7A Conference tournament on Wednesday at Watauga after receiving a first-round bye.

In the end, the fourth-seeded Spartans were able to avenge a pair of regular-season losses, upsetting the top-seeded Patriots by a 62-55 final to hand head coach Danny Anderson the 800th win of his 40-plus year coaching career.

Freedom (18-6) shot just 28.1% (16 of 57) from the field and 23.3% (7 of 30) from 3-point range on Wednesday as it was held to its second-lowest point total this winter — the lowest came in a 49-46 loss at T.C. Roberson on Dec. 3 — after scoring 72.2 points per game during the regular season. However, the Patriots still got 18 points and seven rebounds from junior Jaden Watkins, 16 points and seven boards from senior Kobe Johnson, and 10 points and six assists from junior King Johnson.

After Watkins nailed his first of a game-high four 3s to start the game, South Caldwell’s Gavin Frasure (game-high 30 points) scored on the other end before a King Johnson floater gave Freedom a 5-2 advantage. But the Spartans countered with a 14-0 run to grab a lead that they would enjoy for the rest of the night.

The Patriots eventually trailed 26-20 at the half and 35-29 through three quarters before a 3 from King Johnson made it a one-score game to begin the final period, although South Caldwell responded with six straight points to regain control. The Spartans later led by as many as 13 points following a driving layup from Parker Jackson that made it 49-36 midway through the fourth quarter.

From there, it was a constant march to the foul line that allowed South Caldwell to put things away. The Spartans didn’t make another field goal, but they connected on numerous free throws down the stretch as they finished 15-for-21 at the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, with Frasure notably making 11 of 13 attempts including 10 in a row at one point to finish 16-for-19 on the night.

Watkins (three fourth-quarter 3s) and Kobe Johnson (four fourth-quarter field goals) did give the Patriots a chance in the late stages — Watkins’ last trey brought them within 55-51 with 1:21 remaining — but their efforts ultimately weren’t enough as Freedom lost for the second time in its past three games following a four-game winning streak.

In the evening’s first varsity game, the fourth-seeded Freedom girls (10-16) fell to top-seeded McDowell, 73-43, in an NWC tournament semifinal contest that they trailed 20-11 after the opening quarter, 42-25 at halftime, and 57-35 at the end of three periods.

Ava Cooke recorded a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds while also adding three steals for the Lady Patriots, with fellow senior Cynica Caldwell (10 points) and junior Aniah Queen (four points, six rebounds, six assists) among their other standouts.

Freedom previously collected a 46-43 overtime win over fifth-seeded South Caldwell in the tournament’s opening round on Tuesday in Morganton behind 27 points from Caldwell, eight from Kaitlyn Hagmann, and six from Cooke.

The Lady Patriots were down 11-10 after the first quarter and 33-31 entering the fourth period before forcing the extra session and outlasting the Lady Spartans, who Freedom split with during the regular season.

NCSSM-Morganton bumped early in CRC tourney

Both NCSSM-Morganton teams lost in their first on-court action at the Catawba River 1A/2A/3A Conference tournament early this week.

The No. 9 seed Dragon boys (3-18) hung tough but fell at No. 8 Sugar Creek Charter by a 76-63 margin in Monday’s play-in game. The No. 8 Lady Dragons (4-17) nabbed a play-in forfeit win over No. 9 Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy on Monday before a 99-2 loss at No. 1 Queen’s Grant on Tuesday.

No NCSSM-M statistics were available from either contest.