1A State Championship Recap
Women's 1-A State Championship
Bishop McGuinness 61 - Riverside 58
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It was a game that you wouldn't want to miss and certainly the perfect way to start off the championship games in Chapel Hill, as Bishop McGuinness came in as the favorite but Riverside wasn't going to go down easy.
In the first, Bishop McGuinness took an early 17-9 lead after the first quarter in a hard fought battle between the two teams. Eventually these two teams went back and forth with Bishop McGuinness holding on to a 29-22 halftime lead.
Riverside, led by Kayla Jones, cut the lead to only two points after three quarters, 43-41. And that is when the real fun began. Riverside played a tremendous second half, led by Jones, who had 31 points for Riverside, as the game was tied with only a few seconds to go in the game.
Julia Brown stole the show for Bishop McGuinness, scoring 26 points in the game and grabbing seven rebounds. But it was the magic by Tessa Johnston, as she lifted the Villains of Bishop McGuinness to a state title, as she hit a half-court shot at the buzzer, giving them the three point win.
The Villains dominated the paint Saturday afternoon, outscoring Riverside 42-26. However, Riverside was able to get keep the game close as they created 18 turnovers against Bishop McGuinness and getting 20 points off those turnovers, compared to only 12 for the Villains.
Overall, Bishop McGuinness shot 40 percent from the floor, while Riverside shot 33 percent from the floor, in what was a tight and spectacular game to say the least.
As mentioned before, this is Bishop McGuinness' ninth straight title.
Men's 1-A State Championship
Winston Salem Prep 72 - East Carteret 71
East Carteret came in undefeated on the season, while Winston Salem Prep was known throughout the year of a team that could certainly make a run at the title with their talent on the court.
In the first half, it was East Carteret struggling hitting their shots, only shooting 39 percent from the floor, while Winston Salem Prep hit over 56 percent of their shots. Yet, East Carteret was only down by eight points at halftime, 40-32.
Winston Salem Prep dominated down low in the paint, outscoring 34-15 in the paint against East Carteret, but it the help of the three point shot for Carteret, as they hit 8-of-17 from behind the arc in the second half.
At the end of the third quarter, the score was cut to only three points and it looked like yet another close battle coming down to the end. And that is exactly what happened.
Down the stretch it took a rebound and put-back basket by Kwa'tre Hollingsworth to vault Winston Salem Prep to their third consecutive 1A state championship.
Winston Salem Prep had four players in double figures, led by Mike Hughes who had 17 points in the game. As a team, they shot 50 percent from the floor (25-of-50) while hitting eight three pointers in the game.
For East Carteret, who finished with only one loss on the season, were led by Trevor Willis as he put in 24 points in the game, while Sam Johnson scored 20 points. Key stat was the three pointer put in by East Carteret, as they hit 14 total threes in the game, while shooting 41 percent from the floor.