Women’s basketball team plays North in tournament by | Samuel Littauer
A
Nothing but net | After
stealing a pass and running up the court, junior Kendall Gilliam makes a lay-up against county rival Hendersonville. The varsity women’s team went on to defeat the Lady Bearcats, 5845. “We’re doing our best to come together and play with one heartbeat instead of five,” Gilliam said.
Photo used by permission of Lifetouch
fter a tough early season loss at home against nonconference North Buncombe, the women’s varsity basketball team was out for revenge. Having lost 51-41 to the Lady Blackhawks on Dec. 2, a week before, the team was not going to settle for anything but a win. Down by two going into the fourth quarter, the team scored 21 points to take the 48-44 win, their first win of the season. According to junior Savannah Smith, their victory was fueled by years of experience. Several of the Lady Falcons have been playing together since the seventh grade or earlier. With such a long history, they have formed tight bonds on and off the court, Smith said. “Having played with each other for so long, it’s easy to anticipate what your teammate is going to do,” Smith said. “We’re able to go out there and just have fun.” The team finished the regular season 8-16 overall, 6-8 in the Western North Carolina Athletic Conference for the fifth seed. The team played at North Henderson last Thursday in the first round of the conference tournament. In addition to the win over North Buncombe, the team defeated Hendersonville, Brevard (twice), Tuscola (twice) and East Henderson (twice). Junior Taylor Houck led the team inpoints per game with an average of 13.3 while Smith led the conference in assists
“
When we play
a team the second time, we already know their game and their strategy. We work on countering their
strengths in the
“
next game.
Kendall Gilliam Junior
per game with 4.8. Smith also led the conference in percent of three-point shots made at 27 percent. According to Coach Robbie Lowrance, the team lacked in size, but made up for it with speed. “We hope to repeat last year’s success and make it to the conference finals, but that will be tough,” Lowrance said. “With a competitive conference like ours, it’s anybody’s game.” Gilliam said the team learned from each game. “When we play a team the second time, we already know their game and their strategy,” she said, “We work on countering their strengths in the next game.”
Wrestlers finish regular season, 21-6 by | Natalya Lunsford
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unior Colby Sousa walked onto the mat at the Dobyns-Bennett Tournament in Kingsport, Tennessee, and shook hands with his opponent, Nicholas King, from Wilson Central. He knew the match was going to be difficult because his opponent was ranked in the Tennessee state rankings. “I am proud of winning that match,” Sousa said. “I kept getting takedowns, and I won by points. It was a really close match.” The team placed five students in the top three at the conference meet. Senior Josh Bandy was the conference champion in his weight class (220 lbs.), freshman Eziah Padilla was a conference runner-up (113 lbs.) and Sousa (120 lbs.), freshman Parker Gillespie (132 lbs.) and senior Sam Cocking (160 lbs.) took third. “As a team I think they have had a successful season,” Head Coach Jon Hardman said. “We had a lot of new faces in the room, and we bounced back from a bad year and did better
than a lot of people expected.” The wrestlers faced a transition to a new coach this season. For the past 20 years the wrestling team was led by Jeff Smith. After Smith’s recent promotion to assistant principal, previous assistant coach Hardman took over the team. “There was a lot of stuff that he (Smith) took care of that I never really knew that he took care of,” Hardman said. “It’s a lot more work than I anticipated, but I’m getting used to it.” The team has continued its success under Hardman. In fact, the Falcons improved from last season by earning a 21-6 overall record. The team did not qualify for state in dual team competition because of their fifth place finish in the regional tournament, but freshman Connor Miller, Padilla, Sousa, Gillespie, senior Bryan Check, Cocking, sophomore Peyton Frisbee, freshman Logan Goforth and Bandy traveled to North Henderson last weekend to compete for a spot in the state tournament.
20 | sports | wingspan | february 2015
Face off|
Photo used by permission of Lifetouch
At the start of a match at the Falcon Frenzy tournament in early December, senior Sam Cocking plans a strategy to beat opponent Dylan Courtney from North Buncombe. Cocking went on to get a takedown and score two points. “Wrestling is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Cocking said.