High School Basketball: Rowan’s six teams advance to the playoffs today

Mike London[email protected]

Spencer. The North Rowan Boys Basketball team jumped from 31st to 33rd in the RPI rankings down, finally dropping to 32nd and overtaking South Davidson for last place in the 1A West bracket.

As crazy as it sounds, North’s first round game in Burnsville (7:30 pm) against No. 1 Mountain Legacy (23-1) tonight could be interesting.

North will have more confidence than the standard No. 32. The Cavaliers have seen the Mountain Legacy up close, fought the Cougars before the season, and by all reports, have had no shortage of success in this fight.

While North has seen its ups and downs and is only 12-14, the Cavaliers, who have played most of the season without two of the top three scorers (Disarius Carpenter and Amir Alexander), are still far better than typical. seed number 32. . North has not lost in the first round of the playoffs for a long time.

Throwing away a shortened COVID season when they failed to qualify for the postseason, the Cavaliers reached the third round in 2022 and 2020, and advanced to the Regional Finals in 2019. In 2018 they advanced to the second round.

The Cavaliers have been hit hard by Salisbury, Thomasville and West Rowan this season, but North has talented athletes and head coach Jason Cosby, who has featured in many playoff games.

Mountain Heritage looks formidable, very tall and very good, with a 22-game winning streak. The Cougars have no doubt improved a lot since North saw them in preseason.

To their credit, the MH Cougars didn’t play the typical 1A mountain schedule. They took over the larger schools. They parted ways with Enka, 21-6 3A. They beat West Henderson, the 3A Conference Champion. They beat 3A Crest, the team that West Rowan plays today.

Mountain Heritage’s Max Smoker, a 6’7″ all-rounder, is averaging 21 points and a devastating shooting percentage. Jesse Shelton, center, is a strong athlete and one of the best track and field throwers in 1A. There is a second Smoker, Vaughn, who is 6ft 4ft and scores well.

So the Cavaliers will be serious underdogs and have a long way to go, but you never know for sure. If George Maxwell has one of those nights where he makes seven or eight 3s, North could make it spectacular in the fourth quarter.

•••

Some North fans can stay home and watch the girls play tonight.

The eighth-place North girls will be tipped at 6:00 pm against the 25th-place South Stokes (9-14).

North (18-8) will be led by junior quarterback Bailey Goodlett, who has had a phenomenal season, one of the best in school history. Her 38-point performance against Salisbury last Friday wasn’t a career high, but it was probably the best game she’s ever played. She’s been shooting 3-pointers very well lately, in addition to her usual transitional points.

Brittany Ellis is also averaging double figures for the Cavaliers.

Rebecca Amos and Sage Stovall have many double-doubles with the South Stokes. Stovall grabbed a whopping 23 rebounds against Mount Airy.

The South Stokes play in a solid women’s league alongside Mount Airy, East Wilkes, North Stokes and Starmount, and while the Saurs were a fifth-place team, they are probably better than most fifth-place teams.

The South Stokes lost twice to East Wilkes but lost twice to Mount Airy by one point – one of them doubled in overtime – so it could be a good game.

•••

The undefeated and top West Rowan girls will be tipped at home tonight at 7pm.

The Falcons (25-0) will play West Charlotte. They hope to start a race that will lead to their first state championship.

West Charlotte (7-16) finished 39th in the 3A West RPI, one spot above South Rowan and well behind East Rowan (31st), but automatically qualified for the playoffs as the top of the two schools 3A in split. League 3A/4A.

West Charlotte beat the West Meck, the only team that needed to be taken care of to make the playoffs, and the Lions also took league wins over 4As Hough and Hopewell.

West Rowan Jr. Lauren Arnold is 21 points behind 1000 in her career. She leads the Falcons in scoring, but De’Mia Phifer, Tiara Thompson, Emma Clarke, Jaimecia Huntley and Makayla Tenor can provide double figures for a very strong team.

•••

The West Rowan Boys will play Boiling Springs against Cross in the 3A West playoff game. Tipping at 19:00

West lost a fight in the third round (66-62) to Cross in the 2020-21 season.

The Falcons (15-9) have lost three of their last four games. They’re counting on consistent scorer Will Givens and point guard Kyvon Norman for big games tonight. Elijah Holmes is posting a career-best 20 points and the Falcons could use a similar performance tonight.

Cross is known for the defensive pressure favored by veteran coach Brad “Bull” LeVine.

The best player for the Chargers is point guard AJ Adams, who averages 15.9 points and fills the stats across the board. He has a lot of interceptions and a lot of assists.

Tylik Briscoe also had several scoring games for Crest.

•••

Salisbury teams will play a doubleheader at home.

The third-place Salisbury girls will be tipped at 6:00 pm, which is not expected to be a tough competition.

The Hornets (21-3) are led by four experienced senior players Kayla Bryant, Mary Morgan, Hayley Dalton and Isesis Nwafor, while junior Makayla Noble is one of the best in the area.

Bryant, North Carolina’s recent commit, is scoring over 23 points per game. Nwafor scored 25 points in Friday’s Central Carolina Championship game against North Rowan.

Wilkes Central (6-18) is in 30th place and will come to Salisbury with a streak of eight defeats. Wilkes Central did not win a single away game for the entire season. The Eagles’ most recent performance was a 41-point loss.

Schedule density pushed Wilkes Central into the playoffs. Their opponents’ win percentage was 57 percent. Wilkes Central plays in good league with North Surry, East Surry, North Wilkes and Forbush.

• • •

At around 7:30 pm, the sixth-place Salisbury boys will be tipped against the 27th-place finish at Pine Lake Prep, a Mooresville school.

Pine Lake Prep (14-11) is tied for third in the 1A/2A league of charter and prep schools. The league includes a strong Lincoln Charter team and a good Community School of Davidson team.

Pine Lake Prep have lost four games in a row and are unlikely to challenge Salisbury, but they are a big team with unusually tall perimeter players at 6’5″ Robert Magner and 6’4″ Lukas Strickfaden.

The Hornets (19-5) have won 12 games in a row and have a lot of momentum after hitting five players in double figures and also beating Thomasville for the Central Carolina conference title.

It’s the most balanced assist the Hornets have been able to provide all season to Juke Harris, a 30-point-per-game junior.

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