The Tigers jumped out to a 23-6 lead after the first quarter of the 3A NCHSAA state championship game, but the Red Tornados never gave up and made it a game in the second half.
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More Postgame Thoughts From Sherry Norris
http://chapelboro.com/high-school-basketball/hs-girls-basketball-nchsaa-state-championship-chapel-hill-69-hickory-56/Chapel Hill capped a perfect season with a 69-56 win over Hickory in Saturday’s state 3-A girls’ basketball championship game at the Dean Smith Center.
Chapel Hill avenged a loss in last season’s title game vs. Charlotte-Harding and finished 32-0, while Hickory (29-1) suffered its first and only setback.
“I’m so excited,” said legendary Chapel Hill coach Sherry Norris. “This is so surreal….every coach dreams of being undefeated and winning a championship. It’s hard to describe how that feels.”
Game MVP Raziyah Farrington poured in 22 points with three rebounds and two steals in 26 minutes. She hit all three of her trey attempts and was 9 of 10 from the line in a terrific performance.
“She did a tremendous job,” Norris said of Farrington. “She played extremely well, including defensively as well.”
Catherine Romaine shoots a hook shot over the Hickory defender.
Catherine Romaine was a force in the middle, dropping in 14 points while hauling down 10 rebounds. Tamia Eatmon, meanwhile, was terrific at the point in netting 11 points while also drawing her coach’s praise for a stellar effort in running the offense.
The Tigers dominated most of the contest, building a 23-6 first quarter lead as Farrington netted seven of her points. She continued her blistering play early in the second with a layup and trey as Chapel Hill went ahead 28-6.
Chapel Hill went on to control the remainder of the first half, going into intermission with a 38-16 bulge. Early third quarter baskets by Romaine and Jamella Smith made it appear the Tigers were going to romp to the title as they built a 46-20 lead.
Raziyah Farrington receives the well-deserved Kay Yow Most Valuable Player award.
The Red Tornadoes, however, went on an impressive 20-2 run that propelled a hungry Hickory squad within 10 points of the Tigers early in the fourth. A Yazman Hannah hoop even brought Hickory within five points with just under five minutes left.
Chapel Hill showed the toughness and grit of a champion from there, bagging their second state title as Eatmon drilled key free throws and Farrington hit a layup.
Click here for the complete photo album.
http://chapelboro.com/sports/high-school/chhs-wins-3a-nchsaa-girls-basketball-state-title-perfect-season/
2014 NCHSAA East Regional Title
The quest for perfection comes to an end Saturday as two undefeated teams fight for the 3A NCHSAA girls’ basketball state title, Chapel Hill High School and Hickory High School.
Chapel Hill lost in the title game last year in Reynolds Coliseum on N.C. State’s campus. This year, the Tigers get to play in their home town in one of the biggest and best-known arenas in the state, UNC’s Dean Smith Center.
Long-time head Tiger, Sherry Norris says this game has become so much more than just representing Chapel Hill High School.
“Every coach dreams of having an undefeated season and coaching a state championship team, and there are so few of us that get to do that,” Coach Norris says. “That’s one of the things that we talk about at practice is that, right now, not only are we representing our school and our community but also the eastern part of North Carolina. We are their team that is vying for this state championship. It’s an honor and a privilege to do that.”
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Tipoff between East Regional Champion Chapel Hill and West Regional Champion Hickory is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Saturday in the Dean Smith Center. You can hear all the action exclusively on Chapelboro.com beginning with WCHL Gameday at 4:30 p.m.
The Chapel Hill High School Student Government is hosting a tailgate party beginning at 3:00 p.m. in the parking lot of the Dean Smith Center. Parking is $10 per car (the cost to park for the game), but burgers, hot dogs, and condiments will be provided. You will need to bring your own drinks.
http://chapelboro.com/sports/high-school/chhs-girls-basketball-seeks-perfection-state-title-saturday/The North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A girls’ basketball state final pits two undefeated teams against each other, the East Regional Champion Chapel Hill and the West Regional Champion Hickory.
“The team that normally settles into the game, gets over their jitters, and makes the fewest mistakes is the one who wins,” Chapel Hill Head Coach Sherry Norris says. “Last year we got down, we had to battle back, tied the ballgame, and ended up losing by three, which was unfortunate.”
Chapel Hill and Hickory were supposed to meet last season in the state final, but the west’s No. 1 seed got upset and Harding University High School of Charlotte took down the Tigers in N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum.
However, this season the game comes to Chapel Hill, and Coach Norris says she’d like nothing more than to see her girls complete the #QuestForPerfection in their hometown.
“This entire year, they have made history,” Coach Norris says. “That’s our big thing. It’s the first team to ever have an undefeated regular season; it’s the first team to win 31 ballgames—no one has done that. And so every game we have a different benchmark that we look for. That’s one of the ways that we’ve tried to approach that, as making history with this team, and they’ve bought into that.”
You can pre-order tickets now for the state title game this Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in the Dean Smith Center. Pre-sale tickets are available for $9 at the main office of Chapel Hill High School between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and between 2:00 and 4:15 p.m., or you can see athletic director Tim Bennett after 5:00 p.m. on days of home events. Tickets on game day are $10.
http://chapelboro.com/sports/high-school/chhs-girls-welcome-hickory-hill-state-basketball-title-game/The Chapel Hill Tiger girls’ basketball teams’ opposition keeps getting better, but that hasn’t slowed the domination as they defeated the Union Pines Vikings 64-37 in the East Regional semifinals Thursday night.
The Tigers asserted their dominance early jumping out to a 15-2 lead four minutes into the game and forcing a Viking timeout.
The Union Pines offense woke up a bit in the second quarter, but that didn’t slow down Chapel Hill. Mid way through the second frame, the Tigers extended their lead to 17 at 29-12, and Chapel Hill went on a run to close out the half up 39-12.
Chapel Hill’s Raziyah Farrington led all players with 14 points in the first 16 minutes of play; Autumn West tallied eight. Union Pines turned the ball over 14 times in the first half.
The Vikings went on a 7-0 before the one-minute mark in the third quarter, but it hardly dented the lead, and the Tigers snapped the run taking the 48-24 lead into the final frame.
Chapel Hill never relented and cruised to the 27-point victory.
The Tigers shot 40 percent and held the Vikings to 27 percent. Farrington scored a team-high 16 points. Catherine Romaine tallied 14 and West scored a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Vikings’ Nyona Shields led all players with 18 points.
With the win, Chapel Hill advances to the East Regional final Saturday at 12:00 noon. The Tigers face the West Craven Eagles in Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville. The only loss for the Eagles this season came by the hands of the Tigers 76-52 in the High School OT Holiday Tournament on December 27.
WCHL Championship Sports will be in Fayetteville for the broadcast of Chapel Hill and West Craven. You can hear all the action on 97.9 FM and Chapelboro.com beginning at 11:30 a.m.
http://chapelboro.com/sports/high-school/chhs-girls-basketball-cruises-regional-final/
In a back-and-forth game, the Orange Panthers never trailed and advanced to the East Regional Final with a 69-56 defeat of West Brunswick Wednesday night.
The Panthers got out to a hot start and took an 18-10 lead into the second quarter. The Trojans brought it back to a five-point difference early in the second, but turnovers got the better of them, and the Panthers extended the lead to 11 mid-way through the frame.
Orange continued the run before halftime and took the 37-22 lead into the locker room.
However, West Brunswick showed its fight to stay alive in the postseason nearly doubling its first-half score and outscoring Orange 21-12 in the third. The Panthers held on to a six-point lead with one quarter remaining.
The Orange defense came up big late in the game, and the offense capitalized. The Panthers pulled away to a double-digit lead again and held on for the 13-point win.
Orange’s Jawan Chambers led all players with 18 points. J.D. Brooks and Eryk Brandon-Dean followed him with 16 points each. The Panthers shot 55.8 percent from the field and held the Trojans to 37.9 percent.
In the first regional semifinal, Hunt used 61.5-percent shooting from the field in the second half to pull away and take the 68-60 defeat of Havelock.
Tipoff between Orange and Hunt is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Saturday in Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville. You can hear all the action of the East Regional Final on Chapelboro.com.
http://chapelboro.com/sports/high-school/orange-boys-basketball-holds-trip-east-regional-final/The East Regional No. 1 seed Orange High School is looking for its tenth win in 11 games Wednesday night to advance to the Regional Final this weekend in Fayetteville.
The Panthers missed a rematch with their conference-foe Southern Spartans by just three points; Southern fell to West Brunswick 81-79 in the third round. Both teams combined for 57 points in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans outscored the Spartans by five in the final frame to take the win.
The Trojans tied for second in the 3A Mideastern conference behind New Hanover, which is a 4A team in the mixed conference.
No. 5 seed West Brunswick averages 61 points per game while Orange tallies nearly 70. In the state playoffs, the Panthers are averaging more than 75 points per game.
Tipoff between Orange and West Brunswick is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville.
http://chapelboro.com/sports/high-school/ohs-boys-seek-regional-final-spot-vs-west-brunswick-wednesday/HILLSBOROUGH – The NCHSAA East Regional’s No. 1 seed Orange proved just why it was given that seeding with an 86-78 defeat of rival and No. 9 seed Eastern Alamance. However, the Eagles never gave up and tested just how long the Panthers could hold on.
***Listen to the Game***
Four Tigers scored in double figures as the Chapel Hill girls’ basketball team advanced to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 3A sectionals with the defeat of Northern Guilford, 58-34.
Jamella Smith led all players with 19 points, followed by Jessica Wall with 13 and Razyiah Farrington and Catherine Romaine each with ten.
The No. 9-seeded Nighthawks kept it close early answering the Tigers’ 13 first-quarter points with nine of their own. However, Chapel Hill kept inching away with an 11-8 advantage in the second to take a 24-17 halftime lead and a 16-4 mark in the third to essentially close out the contest taking a 40-21 lead into the fourth. Northern Guilford fought to the bitter end with Chapel Hill taking the fourth quarter 18-13, but the undefeated No. 1 seed was just too much.
The Tigers’ winning streak was extended to 29 with the favorable outcome. Chapel Hill heads to Fayetteville Tuesday to face the No. 4-seeded Union Pines Vikings in the Sectional Finals.
The tipoff time is to be announced. The game will be played in Crown Coliseum. A win there and the Tigers will be propelled to the NCHSAA Regional Final, which will be played Saturday, March 8 at 12:00 noon.
2014 NCHSAA State Playoffs
3A Girls’ Bracket
HILLSBOROUGH – J.D. Brooks and Tay Jones were a dynamic duo Friday night, powering the Orange High boys basketball team to an 86-78 defeat of Eastern Alamance in the third round of the 3A NCHSAA state playoffs.
Click here to listen to the game.
Brooks scored 21 points and hauled in 12 rebounds, while Jones added 13 points and five steals in an energetic effort as the Panthers advanced to the sectional finals Wednesday night in Fayetteville against No. 5 seed West Brunswick.
As good as Brooks and Keegan Crabtree (22 points before fouling out late) were for the Panthers, Orange coach Greg Motley said Jones keyed the win.
“Tay pushed himself beyond his limits,” Motley said. “He earned the game ball tonight.”
Perhaps that’s because he was so willing to sacrifice his body with a scrappy defensive effort that helped the Panthers hold off an Eagles squad led by Lamont Robinson’s 28 points.
The Mt. St. Mary’s bound guard was terrific as usual in keeping the Eagles in striking distance throughout with an array of baskets. When he fouled out on a reach-in with just more than four minutes left; Eastern Alamance’s chances were seriously damaged, however.
Jones saw to that with a slam dunk and a pair of free throws, while Brooks followed up his own miss at the charity stripe with a slam dunk to make it 80-75 with just less than two minutes remaining.
The Eagles were doomed thanks to some late turnovers and awful shooting behind the arc (4 of 31), while the Panthers were a more efficient 6 of 13.
Orange stormed out to a 16-4 lead midway through the first quarter, though Eastern Alamance closed out the stanza with an 11-5 run to make it 21-15.
Malcolm Summers got the Mebane-area squad within a hoop at 29-27 with a slam dunk in the second quarter. The Panthers quickly roared back to build a double-digit advantage as Crabtree took over offensively.
Brooks and Jones also keyed a third quarter run with consecutive slam dunks as Orange built a 70-55 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Jones said a raucous home crowd helped Orange throughout the contest.
“I was focused and hyped, it was the crowd,” Jones said. “I also love playing with all my teammates.”
2014 NCHSAA State Playoffs
3A Boys’ Bracket
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