Page 6A
ISPORTS
The Kings Mountain Herald
February 16, 2006
KM girls upse
GARY STEWART
gstewart@kingsmountainherald.co
It was just a matter of time before the improv-
ing Kings Mountain High's women's basketball
teams pulled a big upset.
In their regular season finale Thursday night at
Donald L. Parker Gymnasium, Coach Donna
DeWitt’s Lady Mountaineers stunned R-S Central
48-46 to finish 5-5 in the split Southwestern
2A /3A Conference.
The win created a tie between KM and R-S in
the 3A brackett head-to-head meetings, but R-S
Central finished 6-4 in the SWC and 19-5 overall
in the regular season to nail down the SWC’s
only 3A playoff berth. KM still has an outside
shot at a wild card berth but with their rugged
reseason schedule and 9-15 overall mark it will
e tough to achieve.
The big victory left Coach DeWitt and her
returning players excited about the prospects for
next season.
Kings Mountain went into this year having
won only one game over the previous two sea-
sons. From day one of practice, DeWitt saw signs
of good things to come, and especially since the
Christmas break the Lady Mountaineers have
been sensing a big turnaround.
“Over Christmas we worked on our man-to-
man defense and the help defense coming off the
man-to-man, and it’s turned around our whole
season,” Coach DeWitt noted. “We play every-
body a full-court man-to-man. It’s definitely dis-
tracting these other teams from being able to run
their offense. We've gotten more aggressive. In
the zone we sort of laid back and int go after
it. ”
The Lady Mountaineers defeated Burns and
Chase twice each, and R-S once in the SWC. R-S
also beat Chase and Burns twice each, but also
pulled an upset of Shelby to finish one game
ahead of KM in the conference.
Kings Mountain players feel good that they
still have a shot at the playoffs.
“There are some possibilities. Head-to-head it
looks good, but we may not get one if we have to
depend on a wild card because of our overall
record,” DeWitt said. “We played some of the
toughest teams around in preseason and I knew
it would come back to bite us before it’s over
with. But nothing's for sure right now and we
still have hope.”
Regardless of the outcome of the season,
DeWitt says she is extremely proud of her play-
ers and their dedication to getting better.
“We've been in every game except for one or
two,” she said. “Our record is not an indication
of how well they've developed and how hard
they've worked. We always had the opportunity
to win in the fourth quarter.”
DeWitt credits some of her younger players for
coming up big in last week’s win over R-S. In the
fourth quarter, when the game was on the line,
LaRonda McClain was the only senior on the
floor for the KM team.
“Angel Smith fouled out in the third quarter,
and Lucy Cleveland wasn’t having a good game,
so LaRonda was the only senior out there,” she
noted. “These young girls withstood the pressure
and came out with that victory. That's a perfect
indicator of what they're going to be able to do
next season.”
Calling up several players from the JV team at
. the Christmas break paid big dividends for
DeWitt’s team. The JV team, which finished 16-1
overall for the best record in the SWC, had only
four games after Christmas because two of the
SWC schools do not have JV programs.
“I was intending to keep them initially, but
sent them back down to er develop the JV pro-
gram,” DeWitt said. “After Christmas with the JV
girls being 13-1, their season was pretty well set.
I went ahead and moved those kids back up and
it gave us a big support coming off the bench.
One of them, Brooke Avery, is now one of our
starting guards. Kelisha Goodson is getting a lot
of minutes at the point position, and Jordan Doty
is getting a lot of time at the small forward posi-
tion.”
Thursday's game was up and down for both
teams, and in the end KM’s defensive pressure
was the difference. R-S bolted to a 12-4 first quar-
ter lead but KM forced numerous turnovers in
the second quarter that enabled the
Mountaineers to go into halftime leading 23-16.
R-S
JOSEPH BRYMER / HERALD
Gerica Vinson had a big game for Kings
Mountain High’s girls in victories over R-S
Central and East Rutherford
R-S Central charged back in the third quarter
to trail by only 33-32, and the Hilltoppers actual-
ly took the lead early in the fourth quarter. KM
moved back out front midway of the fourth quar-
ter and never relinquished the lead.
* Marshia Meeks led the KM offense with 17
points, hitting 8-of-16 from the floor. Smith
added 11 points.
Kings Mountain's defense dominated inside
with 32 rebounds. Brittany McClain pulled down
seven and LaRonda McClain, Gerica Vinson and
Meeks had six apiece.
HM Kings Mountain's men also pulled off an
upset Thursday, defeating the Hilltoppers 66-52
to end their regular season with a 3-7 SWC and
3-20 overall mark.
A 20-9 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter
broke the game open for Ric Franklin's Mounties.
KM led 16-13 after the first quarter, 33-29 at half-
time and 46-45 going into the fourth quarter.
Xavier Whittenburg led four double-digit scor-
ers for the Mounties with 14 points. Johnny
Phillips scored 13, Joel Guyton 12 and Darrick
Marable 10.
Najee Greene of R-S led all scorers with 27
points.
HM Kings Mountain's JV girls ended their sea-
son with a 16-1'record with a 33-8 victory over
the Hilltoppers.
Angel Burris led the Lady Mountaineers with
16 points and Sacia Washington led R-S with six.
BOYS GAME
RS (52) - Greene 27, Hines 10, Davis 5, Carson
4, Miller 2, Young 2, Ledbetter 2.
KM (66) - Whittenburg 14, Phillips 13, Guyton
12, Marable 10, Gill 7, Ross 6, Asgari 4.
GIRLS GAME
RS (46) - Morse 12, Thomas 12, Hernandez 10.
KM (48) - Meeks 17, Smith 11, Avery 6, Vinson
6, L. McClain 4, Doty 4.
Evans bowls another 400
Greg Evans turned in yet another 400 set in
mixed duckpin bowling league action Tuesday
night at Dilling Heating.
Evans’ 167 line and 0 series led Blind Ducks
(37-19) to a 4-4 split with Zeke’s Zingers (21-35).
Ed Philbeck led the Zingers with a 126 line and
356 set.
Mark Abernathy’s 129 line and 346 set led
S&M (27-29) to a 6-2 win over Dead Ducks (27-
29). Pernell Byars led the Ducks with a 105 line
and 280 set.
HM In Thursday night league action, first place
Buckshot Bowlers (29-11) swept PJs (17-23) 8-0.
Jack Barrett led Buckshot with a 121 line and 344
set and Pernell Byars led PJs with a 115 line and
326 set.
Lucky Ducks (23-17) swept KM Warriors (11-
29). Tommy Barrett led the Lucky Ducks with a
140 line and 355 set. Allen Myers had a 137-342
and Ed Philbeck a 113-325 for the Warriors.
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KM girls stun SWC champion,
Kings Mountain's girls state
playon hopes are still alive after
the Lady Mountaineers shocked
regular season champion East
Rutherford 55-49 Tuesday night
in the semifinals of the SWC
tournament.
The Lady Mountaineers, 9-15
overall, will play R-S Central
Friday for the tournament title.
R-S stunned second place
Shelby Tuesday.
This is the third game of the
year for KM and R-S. They split
their first two but R-S nailed
down the only assured SWC
playoff spot with a 6-4 overall
conference record. KM, 5-5 in
the conference, is improving its
chances for a wild card berth.
The Mounties won the game
with a 17-6 scoring advantage
in the fourth quarter. KM had
led 15-12 after the first quarter
but trailed 28-27 at halftime and
43-38 going into the fourth
quarter.
Gerica Vinson had her best
game of the year, hitting 9-of-14
shots from the floor and 19
points. Angel Smith and
Marshia Meeks added 12 points
each. Meeks had nine rebounds
and Vinson and Brittany
McClain had seven each.
GIRLS GAME
KM (55) - Vinson 19, Smith
12, Meeks 12, L. McClain 4,
Doty 4, Burris 2, B. McClain 2.
ER (49) - Mayse 19, C. Smith
14, Watkins 6, Battle 4, Hughes
2, N. Mayse 1.
HM Kings Mountain High's
basketball teams both pulled off
home court victories Monday in
the opening round of the
Southwestern Conference tour-
nament.
The Lady Mountaineers
defeated Burns 65-48 and the
Mounties beat Chase 68-55 .
Smith led the KM scoring
with 16 points, hitting 6-of-11
shots from the floor. Meeks
had eight points and six
rebounds and LaRonda
McClain had seven points and
seven rebounds.
Kings Mountain got off to a
fast start, building a 18-4 first
quarter lead. Burns trimmed
the margin to 30-24 at halftime,
go for tournament title Friday
but KM got hot again in the
See KM Girls, 7B
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