There wasn’t much Newton-Conover High head coach Sylvia White could do to offset a smooth-running passing game by East Burke last Saturday in a third-round state 2A playoff game. White’s had teams in the past with the ability to take their game to the next level but this time ran into a buzzsaw as the Cavs won handily, 77-56, in Icard./MICHELLE THOMPSON PHOTO
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Thoughts and observations a few hours before fourth round state playoff basketball games on Tuesday night:
I’ve always contended the best pure passers in high school basketball are girls, and last Saturday’s performance by the East Burke girls against Newton-Conover convinced me that’s still true.
The fourth-seeded Cavs (24-5) — who battle top-seeded Mountain Heritage (26-0) on the road Thursday at 7 p.m. in a fourth-round game – had a stretch of about four minutes in a 77-56 victory over Newton-Conover where the passing was as impactful as I’ve seen in years.
The Cavs’ 11 3-pointers virtually nixed any chance the Red Devils (25-5) had of winning, but the way East Burke passed the ball sealed Newton-Conover’s fate.
And it appeared to come so matter-of-fact and with such we-know-where-we-want-the-ball-to-go fashion that the Cavs didn’t even blush or stop and offer to have a hand tied behind their backs to make it seem more fair.
Several of the 3-pointers came after anywhere from five to eight passes, and the ball appeared as if it were on a string with East Burke’s players pretty much playing keep away from the Red Devils.
The Cavs, in their own quiet way, dominated the Red Devils… something that just doesn’t happen very often to teams coached by Sylvia White.
Defensively, East Burke held 6-foot-3 junior Chyna Cornwell to 9-of-17 shooting and, as planned, challenged the Red Devils to beat them with outside shooting (they couldn’t).
BARTLETT
“We just preach ball movement,” East Burke head coach Crystal Bartlett said after the game. “Hit the open player, hit the gap.
“They (the Cavs) play very unselfishly. That’s big — they put winning over selfishness.”
Senior guard Brooke Arney had seven 3-pointers on a day the Cavs shot 50 percent, and they broke the game open with a 17-2 run in the third quarter.
Junior guard Josie Hise had 10 of her points in that quarter and the closing sequence of the run was indicative of that passing game that crushed the Red Devils.
Ahead 49-39 with three minutes, 21 seconds left in the quarter, East Burke then delivered this run: Hise on a drive left, Hise on a fastbreak layup off a turnover, Ariana Hawkins on the low post after a steal by Arney, then the eighth 3-pointer – from the left wing by Arney — capped by Graleigh Hildebran’s rebound and score for a 60-39 lead.
“They move the ball well,” White said of the Cavs. “They broke us down and hit their shots. They just executed. They might not be the most athletic team, but that’s a great basketball team.
“They make you pay for every mistake you make.”
Bartlett got her 99th career coaching win on Saturday – the Cavs are 99-21 in her fourth year as head coach – and she isn’t bashful about saying that sometimes, because of her players’ basketball IQs and effort, her job comes easily.
“That’s the kind of team you wanna coach,” she said. “We just want to keep it rolling. If we play like that (Saturday), I don’t have to coach. My thing then becomes managing the game and substitutions.”
East Burke went 27-4 and 27-2 in back-to-back seasons, making the West Regional two years ago before falling by nine points to North Surry.
Last season, when they got to third round before being eliminated by Wilkes Central, they were without Riley Haas and Josie in the postseason because of injuries.
“These girls are determined,” Bartlett said. “They’re a year older (and) it’s going to be tough to beat us.”
The Cavs played at Mountain Heritage on Jan. 9, falling 68-63, and have since won 15 straight games.
“They (Mountain Heritage) will match up better,” White said.
She’s a proud coach
White, finishing her third tenure as head coach at Newton-Conover (nine seasons, three league titles, 170 wins), has more than a passing interest in Thursday night’s game at Mountain Heritage.
While head coach at Mars Hill University, she coached Mountain Heritage’s head coach, Susie Hopson-Shelton.
Hopson-Shelton was a Kodac All-American for White in 1996 and is still third on the Lions’ all-time scoring list (1,984 points).
Hopson-Shelton’s No. 43 jersey is retired, and she played one season in the WNBA with the Charlotte Sting (1997, played six games).
Another good year
White said she couldn’t help but be pleased with how her Newton-Conover team came together and succeeded.
WHITE
In her first tenure as Red Devils head coach, they went 20-6 and to the state playoffs in 1988-89.
White’s second tenure began in 2000-01, after she’d been away for eight years, and a team that was 15-10 the year before went 0-20.
Two years later, the Red Devils were in the West Regionals and went 17-12.
This time around, White inherited a team that was 17-11 and in the state playoffs the year before.
“When we started the year, our first goal was to become a team,” White said of this season. “Our second goal was to get better.”
Newton-Conover started the season 1-4.
“We got together …and the run we made through the conference was amazing,” White said, referencing a 14-0 record in the South Fork 2A and finishing six games up on the next closest teams (Bandys, Lincolnton). “It would be an amazing accomplishment for anybody.”
White left coaching Newton-Conover the first time to coach at Mars Hill. She left the second time to move into administration.
This time, she’s staying in basketball as long as, she says, Newton-Conover officials want her to.
“As long as they will let me,” she said when asked Saturday about coaching.
Powerful Patriots
Freedom, with both of its teams still alive, will have its fans making a choice of what game to attend on Thursday night.
The Patriots (28-2, No. 3 seed) are on the road, facing No. 2 Cox Mill (26-2) at 7 p.m. while the Freedom girls (29-1, No. 2 seed) are at home at 7 p.m. against No. 3 Carson (27-2).
A win by the Freedom boys would get them to another West Regional on Saturday in Hickory against No. 4 Charlotte Catholic (21-8) or No. 1 Southwest Guilford (29-0).
Freedom’s girls would play Saturday, also in Hickory, against No. 9 Asheboro (23-7) or No. 4 Cuthbertson (27-3).
If both Freedom teams reach the West Regionals it will be the seventh time they’ve done that. Previously, the Patriots got both there in 1985-86, 1993-94, 1995-96, 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Mighty Mustangs
Top-seeded East Lincoln (28-2) is at home Thursday at 7 p.m. to play No. 13 East Rutherford (22-5).
The Mustangs can shoot, especially 3-pointers, and they play good defense and with an intensity level that is hard to match.
A win by East Lincoln would move it opposite No. 3 Shelby (23-5) or No. 2 Forest Hills (27-2) in Hickory on Saturday.
Forest Hills beat East Lincoln last season and then won the state 2A title.
Of local interest
MIKE CRAFT
A victory on Thursday for seventh-seeded Ardrey Kell (23-5) over No. 6 West Charlotte (22-6) – they play at Vance – would get head coach Mike Craft a trip home.
Craft has his sixth 20-win team at Kell.
He’s a former Hickory athlete whose brother, David, is athletic director and head baseball coach at their alma mater. The gym at HHS is named after their late father, David Craft Sr.
The West Regional games are back in Hickory this year – at Catawba Valley Community College and Lenoir-Rhyne University, with game times and locations to be set – and Kell would play No. 12 Myers Park (22-8) or No. 9 Winston-Salem Reynolds (21-6) for a spot in the state 4A title game.
