By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Bandys High girls’ varsity basketball head coach celebrates the Trojans reaching 1,000 wins since the 1970-71 season./PHOTO COURTESY OF NEWTON OBSERVER NEWS ENTERPRISE
CATAWBA – Bandys High’s girls — sparked by a 28-point debut by freshman Mallorie Haines and playing their first game under head coach Nicki Sigmon – reached a basketball milestone on Monday night.
GIRLS
BANDYS 58
ST. STEPHENS 43
The Trojans downed visiting St. Stephens 58-43 in Bost-Matheson Gym to post the 1,000th girls’ varsity basketball win by Bandys since 1970-71, the first season the late Bill Bost coached at the school.
Bandys (1-0) plays at Bunker Hill on Tuesday night in a non-conference game.
On Monday night, the Trojans led the Indians 14-11 after one quarter, 26-18 at the half and led by eight points heading into the final quarter. Bandys outscored St. Stephens 18-11 in the final quarter.
The victory improved Bandys to 1,000-303 since 1970-71, and the Trojans’ mark in Bost-Matheson for that time frame improved to 449-87.
Bandys is coming off an 8-16 record last season that included reaching 999 wins with a 58-37 victory on Feb. 17 of last season at West Lincoln.
The Trojans had three chances to reach 1,000 wins after the West Lincoln win but fell to Newton-Conover at Bandys, Maiden on the road in the Southern District 7 Athletic 2A tournament, and to Smoky Mountain on the road in the first round of the state 2A playoffs.
Bandys has had a winning record in 41 of the previous 47 seasons, with 29 of those teams winning at least 20 games and two others winning 30.
The Trojans’ girls have more West Regional appearances (20) than any girls or boys basketball teams in the state, including nine straight from 1980-81 through 1988-89 under late coach Mike Matheson and five straight from 2009-10 through 2013-14 with Beth Queen (3), Mark Story (1) and Kyle Moretz (1) as head coach.
Bandys has six state championships, last playing for one in 2013-14 and falling 57-51 to High Point Central in Raleigh in its seventh title game appearance.
St. Stephens 11 7 14 11–43
Bandys 14 12 14 18–58
ST. STEPHENS 43–Tori Tomlinson 12, McMahan 8, Norris 6, O’Mara 5, Rhodes 4, McHenry 3, Safford 3, Morgan 2.
BANDYS 58– Mallorie Haines 28, Thompson 9, Deal 8, Mirman 4, Laney 4, Sigmon 3, Paul 2.