STATE CHAMPS! Vance girls shut down Garner, win second straight NCHSAA state title

The Vance High girls basketball team has done it again.

The Cougars repeated as N.C. 4A state champions Saturday, overwhelming Garner with a combination of interior size and outside shooting. Vance won 74-38 and actually got to celebrate the win on the court. Last year, Vance was declared a co-champion with Southeast Raleigh after the coronavirus pandemic halted play before the final game could be played.

Vance’s margin of victory Saturday was the largest in the history of the 4A state championship game.

“It feels wonderful,” Vance coach Donnell Rhyne said. “I’m so happy for the seniors (who) are standing beside me. They put in a lot of work to get to this point. People don’t know the sacrifices they made: running steps, early morning practices, all sorts of things. People just look at them and feel they have a great team; they play AAU. But they had to come together as a team. They had to bond.

“So I feel wonderful about this.”

Vance (12-0) played its traditional zone defense, using its size — starting posts Trinity and Amhyia Moreland are both 6-2 — and Garner, a smaller, quicker team, could never get its offense going.

Garner came into the championship averaging 70 points per game. But the Trojans had just made four field goals and had 18 points midway through the third quarter when Vance’s Leah Barringer made her fourth 3-point shot of the game. Vance led by 18.

Barringer, a senior, had 16 of her 32 points in that third quarter when Vance put the game away, turning a 10-point halftime lead into a blowout. Barringer scored 26 points in the second half, and the Cougars led 53-30 heading into the fourth quarter.

Barringer was named championship MVP after making 10-of-12 field goal attempts, 5-of-6 3-point attempts and all seven free throws she took. She also had four rebounds, three assists and a steal.

“I had to lock in and get my head right,” she said. “I realized I was in my head in the first quarter and I knew I wanted to finish it out with my team, so I stepped up.”

Barringer said being able to celebrate on the court meant a lot. She said none of her teammates totally enjoyed being named co-champions last year. The Cougars felt they were the best team in the 2020 season, just like they showed at the end of 2021.

“Last year,” she said, “we got it taken away from us and we were ready from the start, and we felt like we wanted to take care of business and actually win it this time as a team.”

Vance shot 63 percent in the second half and, for the game, the Cougars out-rebounded Garner 50-23. Trinity Moreland (15 points, nine rebounds, three assists) and Amhiya Moreland (11 points, 13 rebounds, three assists) dominated the inside, but Rhyne also credited Barringer and M’Kaylah Marshall for their defense on Garner star Jerni Kiaku, who was averaging 26 points per game.

Kiaku finished with 14 points and no other Trojan had more than eight.

“Our game plan,” Rhyne said, “was when she touched the ball, slow her down. She’s one of the fastest guards I’ve seen. One time, I just looked around and she was already shooting the basket.”

Vance (12-0) is the first girls basketball team from Mecklenburg County to repeat since Myers Park won in 2014 and 20‘15.

West Charlotte’s girls lost in the 2008 final, but won in 2009, led by N.C. Associated Press player of the year Christal Caldwell.

Garner, which won the 1978 state title, was in the final for the first time since losing to Fike High School in 1979. Trojans coach William Stigler said that had something to do with his team’s performance. Garner shot 2-for-10 in the first quarter and 0-for-7 in the second. For the game the Trojans made 12-of-51 shots.

“I think it was more so nerves,” he said, “never have been here before. I have four seniors leaving. It was just a lot of nerves, emotions and the ball didn’t drop for us today.”

Garner also ran into a team that was really clicking.

“With these girls,” Vance coach Rhyne said, “if they focus in, we would dominate anybody; anybody that’s on our 4A level, we would dominate. All they’ve got to do is start playing together.”

And on state final Saturday, they did a good job of that.

Note: if you can’t see the photos on mobile, click here

Game summary

Vance — 15 8 30 21 — 74

Garner — 8 5 17 8 — 38

VANCE 74 — Leah Barringer 32, Marshall 0, Hayes 8, Trinity Moreland 15, Amhyia Moreland 11, Washington 0, Piggee 3, Goodwin 0, Perkins 0, Richardson 5, Brown 0

GARNER 58 — Jerni Kiaku 14, Hicks 4, Ofunniyin 4, Wilkins 3, Bastian 8, Tucker 0, Darden 0, Mosley 0, Bell 3, Lee 2, Billings 0

Records: Vance 12-0, Garner 17-1

Championship MVP: Leah Barringer, Vance

Team Most Outstanding: Jerni Kiaku, Garner; Trinity Moreland, Vance

Shelby girls win first state title

Two sophomores stole the show Saturday afternoon, as Shelby pulled away from Farmville Central 77-62 and won the 2A girls’ state championship – the first in that sport for the Golden Lions.

Maraja Pass, a 5-4 guard who is getting attention from numerous Division 1 college programs, scored 31 points and was named Most Valuable Player of the Game. Ally Hollifield, a 5-8 guard, added 22 points.

Junior guard Kate Hollifield, Ally’s sister, scored 16 points.

The Golden Lions (19-0), who defeated opponents by an average of 33 points a game this season, led by double digits in the first half, but the Jaguars rallied and trailed only 38-37 at the half.

Farmville Central pushed ahead 41-38 early in the third quarter, but Shelby took a 42-41 lead on a layup by Pass with 5:59 left in the quarter and never trailed again.

“We had a game plan, and it was great to see it work like it did,” Shelby coach Scooter Lawrence said.

Pass added eight assists to her scoring total, and Kate Hollifield had eight rebounds.

Farmville Central outrebounded Shelby 48-30, with A’miya Joyner grabbing 15. She also scored 15 points.

-- Steve Lyttle

Carson girls win 3A state title

Jesse Carson overcame Asheboro and its standout player, Diamond McDowell, posting a 51-40 victory for the 3A girls’ state championship Saturday evening at Providence Grove High School.

The Cougars puts the wraps on a 19-0 season by outscoring the Blue Comets 34-20 in the second half.

McDowell, a 6-1 senior who averaged 20.4 points and 11.9 rebounds entering Saturday’s contest, had a solid 16-point, 11-rebound performance. But Jesse Carson’s defense forced McDowell into seven turnovers.

“We thought that her getting the ball under the basket is something that would beat us,” Cougars’ coach Brooke Stouder said. “We focused on that.”

Stouder said the third quarter was the turnaround.

“The first four minutes was definitely the turning point,” she said. “It got all the momentum going our way.”

Trailing 23-21, Jesse Carson went on a 6-0 run and never trailed again.

Senior Carleigh Perry, named the game’s Most Valuable Player, scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Ellie Wilhelm shot 6-of-7 from the floor and finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Sisters Hannah and Lani Isley each added eight rebounds.

Asheboro, whose starters each played the entire game, finished 15-1. The state championship was Jesse Carson’s first in the sport.

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Jesse Carson 11 6 14 20 – 51

Asheboro 10 10 8 12 – 40

JESSE CARSON: Carleigh Perry 19; H. Isley 7; Perry 7; Ellie Wilhelm 13; L. Isley 2; Hales 0; Spy 3; Vaughn 0.

ASHEBORO: Diamond McDowell 16; Murrain 8; Jackson 4; Ellison 9; Maness 3.