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No ladies basketball program in the county has more wins over the last three seasons than R-S Central’s. The Lady Hilltoppers have 55 wins over the past three seasons (17-9, 18-9, 20-7) and have went three rounds in back-to-back seasons of the 3A playoffs.
This year’s seniors, Shannon Hines and Mercedes Davis lead the club. Hines has been the catalyst over the years and has guided the Lady Hilltoppers to a 2-0 start. Hines scored 30 against Mitchell in a 54-40 win and 19 in a 58-49 win over Avery.
So far, defense has been the key as Alyssia Watkins is averaging five steals and 6.5 rebounds a game. Tia Bristol is averaging seven rebounds per game and Mercedes Davis has a nearly three block average per game.
Over in Bostic, East Rutherford has sophomore Rachel Camp to pace the Lady Cavs. Plus, things are looking up as three other starters return. Athletic, Kaziah Miller scored 14 in a season opening 48-25 win over Highland Tech last week. Quickness portrays Shay Dewberry and Rosland Lattimore should help in the rebounding department again. Coach Larry Ross already believes that defense could be the biggest upside to his team this coming season
In Trojan country, Chase has a new head coach in Todd Davis, but kept two key returnees. Davis, who is a familiar face at Chase, takes on a program that has struggled on the court over the past few seasons.
The upside is that juniors, Kaitlyn Smart (forward) and Kendra Holcombe (guard) are back. While Chase suffered a 50-28 season opening loss at North Henderson this past weekend, Smart came up with a double-double that included 13 points and 10 rebounds with two blocks and two assists.
Scoring enough and staying fundamentally sound on defense has been an issue over the past few seasons. If they can help themselves in those two aspects, their stock will automatically rise.
A year ago, Thomas Jefferson ended the season 6-17 with a first round loss in the 1A playoffs to Murphy.
Last year, former East Rutherford grad, Kyra Battle assisted the Thomas Jefferson girls from the sidelines, but this year, she takes ahold of the reins.
With Battle coaching them and Victoria Bennett (averaged double-double stats in almost every game last season) continuing to give other teams trouble on the inside, it could be a better year than last season. They also return guard, Ryanne Corder and have a talented newcomer at the point in Bruna Reis.
In last week’s beginning on the basketball court for the guys, East Rutherford’s Devonte Boykins posted 28 points as the Cavs fell on the road 62-56 at Highland Tech. The Rams are a solid 1A program on the rise over the past couple of seasons, so it’s hardly a surprise that East lost its hoops season opener.
R-S Central’s boys took a split in tourney at Mitchell High. The Hilltoppers lost 60-58 to Mount Airy, but claimed a 77-71 victory over Alleghany.
Chase and Carlos Watkins (24 points and 16 rebounds) captured a season opening 66-62 win over North Henderson.
Chase and East Rutherford have their home openers on Thursday (December 1st), while R-S Central does the same on Friday (December 2nd). Thomas Jefferson visits McDowell on Friday night.
In college hoops, #1 North Carolina was knocked off by UNLV last week, but to make things worse, Harrison Barnes is injured. It doesn’t get any easier as they face Wisconsin and Kentucky this coming week. We are just beginning December, so there should be no real panic for the Tarheels.
Duke is undefeated and has three quality wins so far in the early season. However, after facing #3 Ohio State this week, the Blue Devils schedule of games should be pretty easy until a January 7th meeting at Georgia Tech. The last time the two schools meet at Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets scored the upset.
Coming to Charlotte this Saturday is the ACC Football Championship. It’s round two of Virginia Tech and Clemson. The first one went to the Tigers, 23-3, in an outstanding defensive performance that night in Blacksburg by allowing the Hokies just 258 overall yards.
Things have sort of reversed over the last few weeks as Clemson has squandered an 8-0 start. The Tigers have lost three of their last four games mainly due to the fact that the Tigers defense hasn’t been able to stop anybody of late or stay off the field for that matter either.
Virginia Tech on the other hand has won seven straight contests since the loss to Clemson. The Hokies are ranked fifth in the nation after destroying #24 Virginia in Charlottesville this past week.
Simply put, I like the Hokies in this one, 27-16.
