South girls return to YVC title game

Thu. February 16, 2012 at 11:12 p.m. | By Contributed Story

BISCOE | All that stood in the way of the South Davidson girls and a return trip to the Yadkin Valley Conference tournament championship was West Montgomery in the semifinals at East Montgomery on Thursday. Last year, the Wildcats were the No. 6 seed and pulled three straight upsets to win the tournament over North Moore. This year the Wildcats were regular season co-champions, tied with Chatham Central, who secured a berth in the championship, beating North Moore 59-55 in the other semifinal contest.

South jumped out to a 14-point lead, but had to hold off a hard-charging Warriors squad. With the game tied at 50, Madi Beeson came up with a steal for the Wildcats and was fouled with 1.8 seconds left in the contest. Beeson went to the line and sank the front end of a one-and-one, missed the second — but teammate Holly Wall rebounded the miss and stuck the ball back in, lifting South to the final tilt with a 53-50 victory.

“It was a hard-fought game,” said South coach Fonda Jackson, whose team improved to 19-6. “We started out fast, but West battled back with strong rebounding. They really controlled the boards and really hurt us on the weak side.

“Madison Sigmon really got us going at the end and then Beeson stole the ball and made the foul shot. It was a good game for the fans.”

South swept the Warriors in both regular-season meetings, winning at home by 30 points just over two weeks ago. They beat West by four points back in December on the road.

“We had our chances and some of the girls didn’t step up when we needed it,” said West coach Henry Panzer, whose squad dropped to 13-7. “We made too many mental mistakes. We had our opportunities and that’s all I can ask. Proud of the girls for fighting back and making a game of it.”

The Wildcats came out on fire, hitting their first five shots. But the Warriors hung tough, trailing by a 7-6 score with 5:40 left in the opening period. Then South went on 16-3 spurt over the rest of the quarter and into the first two minutes of the second quarter to lead 23-9.

It was the Warriors’ turn to go on a scoring run, outscoring the Wildcats 17-6 during a second quarter stretch, but leaving South on top 29-26 at the break. Wall paced the Wildcats in the first half, scoring nine of her team-high 13 points. She also grabbed 12 rebounds.

The Warriors scored the first six points of the third quarter, giving them their first lead since the opening bucket. West continued to pound the boards, getting more than one shot at the basket. The two teams swapped buckets over the remainder of the period with South holding a slim 41-40 lead going into the final frame.

West skirted to a 44-41 lead to start the fourth period. Then South ran off nine unanswered points for a 50-44 lead with 2:57 left in the contest. West countered with a 6-0 run, tying the game at 50 with 38 seconds left and setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
Larsen Sigmon also scored 13 points for the Wildcats, including three 3-pointers. She was followed by Madison Sigmon with 10 points. Latoya Cuthrell had 12 points for the Warriors and teammate Jennie Nicholson added 11.