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Timothy Ramsey Sports Columnist NBA season better than expected Now that we are more than halfway through the NBA .season, things are starting to heat up in both conferences. I knew com ing into this- season that we would have more par ity than we have had in the last 10 years, but I wasn’t expecting this. I will have to admit, during the runs of the Mi ami Heat and the Golden State Warriors, I did not watch much basketball during the regular sea son. The main reason was because it seemed to be a foregone conclusion who was going to win, which took a lot of intrigue out of the game for me. This, season, however, has been very enjoyable to watch for several rea sons. First, I enjoy the fact that there are several teams that have an oppor tunity to win the champi onship. Secondly, I have enjoyed the development of the younger players in the league. This combina tion has made for a very entertaining product to watch and enjoy. As I have stated pre viously, I have never been a big fan of dynas ties. Michael Jordan was my favorite basketball player growing up, but even when the Chicago Bulls were dominating the league during the 1990s, I still found myself hoping someone could dethrone them as champions. I know that sounds weird, but I am a person who en joys seeing the underdog come out of nowhere and win, or just having multi ple teams having an equal chance to win. It would not be a stretch to' say that in re cent years I have become- bored with the NBA. The regular season did not in terest me, because I pretty much knew what the out come would be. The post season was a bore as well. The only reason why I watched the finals was- to see if there was a team that could beat the Warriors, or the Heat before them. This year is much dif ferent, thankfully. I have probably watched more regular season games this year than I have in the past five seasons. On any given night, it seems that any team can be beaten, which creates a lot of intrigue. I no longer find myself just following individual play ers, but I am now invested in team success as well. Everyone knew that the Western Conference would be stacked. As of March 1, the second and seventh seeded teams are only separated by four games. The Lakers are predictably on top Out west, but who knows what will happen over the next couple of months as we head into the playoffs. The Milwaukee Bucks are dominating the East ern Conference and have an outside chance of winning . 70 games. The Toronto Raptors, the reigning champions, are surprisingly in the sec ond spot in the east, even after losing Kawhi Leon ard. With the emergence of Jayson Tatum, the Bos ton Celtics are looking very formidable as well. I am still not very high on the Philadelphia 76ers be cause of the players they lost, combined with the lack of team cohesiveness. See NB A on B5 Photos by Alphonso Abbott Jr. BY TIMQTHY RAMSEY THE CHRONICLE The sport of cheerleading is highly com petitive. Last Friday, the varsity cheerleaders from Parkland High School showed off some of their moves during a competition in Char lotte. Here is a look at the young ladies during one of their routines. Have a Story Idea? Let Us Know! News@wschronicle. com Young just scratching the surface BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY THE CHRONICLE Christiana Young is only a freshman at Win ston-Salem Christian School (WSCS) but is already racking up acco lades and honors. She was named player of the year in the Central Carolina Con ference, scored over 1,000 points, and was four points away from being a state champion. Young began her career on the varsity team as an Sth grade student and went on to score nearly 800 . points last season. This year, with an influx of new talent, she led the Lady Lions to a 31-4 overall re cord. “Playing as an Sth grad er with the varsity team was a really nice experi ence, especially playing against older girls,” said Young. “I wasn’t nervous or anything, because when . I step onto the court, I don’t care who it is against. I just play my hardest and leave everything on the court.” As the starting point guard, Young’s scoring numbers dipped, but that was mostly due to her hav ing more help .this season. “I have, more help this year and they are more experienced players than Photo by Alphonso Abbott Jr. Christiana Young has scored over 1,000 points as a freshman at Winston-Salem Christian School. we had last year,” she said. “We have a new coach and he gets us in re ally good shape.” The state champion ship game was a tough loss for Young. She feels they had a great shot at win ning, but lost it in the final minutes. “It was a good game, we started getting nervous and it really started getting to us,” she said about the. championship game. “We started making a lot of turnovers and they were scoring off of our turnovers and we never adjusted. I just learned to continue to play hard to the final whis tle and never give up.” As a child, basketball came easy to Young. She was in the third grade play ing on a team with eighth grade girls. Her talent was evident from early on, partly due to her high bas ketball IQ mother, Young’s Demetris Jeter Young, says she knew Christiana would be really good on the bas ketball court as a young child. She admits that she wanted Young to be into dance, but realized that was not her path. “I wanted to have a little girl so she could do dance and be prissy,” said Jeter Young. “She did cheer one year while her brother played football, but she was always trying to knock him over with her cheerleading uniform on. “When I went to sign her up for dance, she fought me so hard. We wound up leaving the Y with her being signed up for boxing. So, I noticed then that she had a love for sports. She is just competi tive at everything that she does.” With Young already eclipsing the 1,000-point barrier, she thinks she has a good shot at scoring 3,000 before her high school ca reer is over. This is head coach Rocky Brundages’ first year at the helm for the Lady Lions. He says it has been pleasure to coach Young this season. He says she is a hard worker with limitless potential. “She is an extremely hard worker and the big gest improvement I’ve seen in her this year is in the weight room,” said Brundage. “We put proba bly three and a half months of time in here in the pre- season, which has really made a huge difference. . “I think she scored more points last year than she did this year, but it’s a different team with a lot more talent than she had before. This is the second time in my career having a player score 1,000 points, but the first time I’ve seen a freshman accomplish that at such a young age.” Brundage feels the ceil ing for Young is very high, because of her work ethic, skill, academics and her positive attitude. Brundage feels when her high school career is completed, she has a good chance to play “mid to high level D-l.” Young’s favorite sub ject in school is math. She has dreams of playing for several schools such as Baylor, Notre Dame, UNC Chapel Hill, Wake For est or South Carolina. She would like to major in sports medicine while at tending college. ,;-
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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