Big Times in Little D
Thu. February 09, 2012 at 9:40 p.m. | By Jason Queen
South Davidson’s Taylor Hatfield (right) drives the baseline in the first meeting against North Rowan. (Photo by Donnie Roberts/The Dispatch)
DENTON | Riding down N.C. Highway 109 into Denton is almost like travelling back in time. It’s a long stretch of blacktop that seems to stretch on for days, leaving most of civilization way back in the rearview mirror.
But pulling into South Davidson’s gymnasium on game night gives a totally different fell — this is big time.
South’s boys are on the verge of a 20-win season, and the girls can clinch a share of the Yadkin Valley Conference title with a victory over South Stanly at home Friday night.
For a school that’s spent far too many years at the bottom of the league standings, it’s been a long time coming. Jim Young, who’s in his first year as the South boys’ coach, knew he had plenty of talent to work with. Sophomore twins Austin and Taylor Hatfield can score 30 points on any given night, and the Wildcats have found a way to get the most out of the rest of the squad.
Young, who came out of retirement to take over for former protege Erik Alspaugh, knew there was potential for something special. “I knew the twins, everybody knew about them,” Young said. “But our point guard, Wil (Collins), has really stepped up and bought into what I want him to get done. And basically we’re all guards, so I had to convert some of them into forwards.
“So they’ve really had to learn to get their back to the hoop; and I think that’s one of the keys, the kids have accepted their roles. And that’s huge; it’s tough to adjust, and the kids have done a great job.”
Daniel Cook, David Whitaker, Jordan Hughes and Brannon Haneline have combined to form a front line by committee. They are asked to play tough defense, often giving up a significant height advantage to their opponents, set screens to free up perimeter shooters and outhustle their opponents for rebounds and loose balls. It’s a role Hughes readily embraced.
“I’ll do anything to win,” Hughes said. “We’ve got the guards, the firepower. If somebody needs to get rebounds and do all the dirty work to win, I’m willing to do it.”
That was especially evident in Feb. 3’s 71-62 victory over defending 1-A state champion North Rowan. Despite trailing midway through the fourth quarter, the Wildcats rallied for a signature win that has the whole town brimming with excitement.
Austin Hatfield, who scored 34 points in that win, certainly appreciates the efforts his teammates put forth in the paint against the much bigger Cavaliers. “We’re outsized, we’re outnumbered,” he conceded. “They have a deep bench, and I think their smallest player was equivalent to our tallest player.”
That didn’t faze the Wildcats, and they pulled out the huge win to virtually lock up the YVC’s No. 2 seed heading into next week’s conference tournament. It was a culmination of months of hard work and justification of what the team has believed since practice began. “We were gonna turn things around at South Davidson,” Hughes said. “We weren’t gonna be the typical, everybody wants to play us. There was a new standard.”
10 straight wins for South girls
The fun doesn’t start at 7:30 p.m. when the boys hit the floor, either. South’s girls head into Friday’s regular-season finale at 13-2 in the league, 16-6 overall, and they can clinch a share of the conference championship with a win over South Stanly. Coach Fonda Jackson, in her eighth season, thought she could be in for a promising season after the Wildcats won the YVC tournament last year. This has all come despite a roster that doesn’t boast a single senior.
Winning the tournament last year served as a major springboard for her program. “I think it really, really made a difference,” Jackson said. “We were the sixth seed, but we kept telling them they could beat anybody in the conference. So with them winning that tournament, they became believers.”
It certainly didn’t happen right away. The Wildcats battled a tough nonconference schedule and a rash of injuries and were sitting around the .500 mark at the Christmas break. “We got off to a little bit of a slower start than I wanted; we had some injuries,” Jackson explained. “But once we got through that, I felt like we really gelled, and it’s been great since. I’ve seen a maturity with them; things that might bother them as a sophomore or freshman, they can get over it, and they can depend on their teammates.”
Junior point guard Larsen Sigmon has been a key cog for the Wildcats, wreaking havoc on defense and directing an offense that features balance over relying on a single player. Keeping the team together through trying times early was very important. “At first, it just took a little bit to adjust and learn how we all played together,” Sigmon said. “But then once the season got going, we starting playing together very well.”
Did they ever. A win over league-leading Chatham Central in late January proved the Wildcats could play with anybody in the league and has the team ready for a postseason run. They bowed out in the second round at six-time defending state champ Bishop McGuinness last year, but they will be more prepared for a playoff run this time around.
The Wildcats don’t depend on one player for offensive contributions. Sigmon is a triplet, and her sisters, Madison and Hunter, do a little bit of everything for South. Holly Wall is the closest thing the undersized Wildcats have to a post presence, and Madi Beeson and Addie Grubb are capable of picking up the scoring load on any given night.
Wall is extremely excited about the prospect the rest of the season holds, trying to keep this winning streak going as long as possible. “We’re full of confidence,” she said. “We know we can win, we can be No. 1, we can be conference champions, and we can go far in states. All we have to do is not take teams lightly and work as a team.”
‘The sixth man’
Working as a team is made much easier by a rabid fan base that has swollen to unbelievable proportions. The Wildcats play their home games in front of standing-room-only crowds, and a large portion of the fan base travels far and wide as they trek through the far-reaching Yadkin Valley Conference.
“The student body’s been great; they had a blackout night the other night against North Rowan,” Young said. “The place was full, standing room only, and that really helps. Even on the road; we go down to East Montgomery (Tuesday), and three-quarters of the fans in there are ours.”
And Jackson doesn’t have to fret about crowds trickling in during the fourth quarter of the girls’ games. The Wildcat faithful are all-in for both squads. “It’s awesome, because we’re gonna get support even in a mediocre season,” she said. “But when we’ve got both teams doing very well, it’s incredible.
“You’ve heard of the sixth man, that is so true for us. I think it gives our players a little more confidence because they know they’ve come to see them play, and they want to do well. They are spending the money and taking the time to come see them.”
Hughes agrees wholeheartedly. “South Davidson is the definition of a home-court advantage when it comes to high school basketball,” he said. “Anytime something goes right, the gym explodes. You have everybody in the town there watching.”
So far, they have to like what they’re seeing. The South boys, and girls, hope they can keep making them happy all the way to a state championship.
Jason Queen can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 220 or jason.queen@the-dispatch.com.