South girls win second straight YVC tournament
Fri. February 17, 2012 at 10:11 p.m. | By Contributed Story
Biscoe | It’s ony fitting that the regular season co-champions squared off in the Yadkin Valley Conference tournament championship game Friday night at East Montgomery High School. The South Davidson and Chatham Central girls basketball teams both finished the regular season with identical 14-2 league marks, and split their regular-season meetings.
There was more than the championship on the line — the winner receives the conference’s number one seed for the upcoming state 1-A playoffs, scheduled to start Monday. The tournament pairings are due out Saturday.
Both teams’ offense got off to a slow start, but thanks to junior point guard Larsen Sigmon’s ball-hawking skill, picking up numerous steals, the Wildcats powered past the Bears 44-26. Sigmon finished the contest as the game-high scorer with 21 points, many coming off steals and easy baskets on the other end. The tournament championship is South’s second in a row, having won last year’s tourney as the number six seed. It was also the team’s 14th straight victory.
“It was a great win for us and to do it two straight is really great,” said South coach Fonda Jackson, whose team improves to 20-6. “I’m on cloud nine and I don’t know when I will come down. It’s really great for the school and community. Our defense played well and that’s what has kept us in games all year.”
South, the number two seed, reached the tourney finals by beating seventh seed Gray Stone in the first round and narrowly got by third seeded West Montgomery in the semifinals. Chatham Central won the coin toss and was the tournament’s number one seed, then beat No. 8 East Montgomery in the first round and handled fourth-seeded North Moore in the semifinals.
The first quarter was slow as the Wildcats hit only one field goal, but connected on 6-of-6 foul shots for an 8-6 first-quarter lead.
Then in the second period, Sigmon got running and paced her teammates on a 15-1 run over the first six minutes of the quarter. Sigmon had seven points during the period and sister Hunter Sigmon added four points. Chatham Central score six points in the final two minutes and the Wildcats added a foul shot for a 24-13 lead at the break.
Chatham Central scored the first four points of the third quarter, cutting the lead to seven points, the closest they would be during the rest of the game. South led 34-21 going into the final frame. The Wildcats kept the lead by 12 and 16 points during the fourth quarter and got their final bucket at the two minute mark for a 44-26 lead. Chatham Central emptied their bench and the Wildcats were content to run out the clock.
“I was surprised they didn’t come and chase at the end, but I was glad because that meant we won the game,” said Larsen Sigmon. “We were really pumped for the game and I told the team to stay pumped and not get down on ourselves if we made a mistake. It’s a great feeling.”
Joining Larsen Sigmon in the scoring column was Hunter Sigmon with nine points and 10 rebounds. Holly Wall added six points, Madi Beeson three and Addie Grubb three. Brooke Strickland and Jordan Culberson score eight points each for the Bears.