It’s ladies’ night. Mallard Creek, Butler, South Meck win CMS conference championships
For the past few days, before Mallard Creek upset heavily favored North Mecklenburg, 44-40, in the Queen City 3A/4A tournament championship Friday, Mavericks coach Karlyn Dixon kept preaching to her team that no matter what they heard, Mallard Creek had a chance.
The Mavericks, No. 8 in The Observer’s Sweet 16, lost one of their top players on Jan. 31. Junior Jazmeen Stone injured her wrist during a 12-point loss at home to North Mecklenburg.
Then on Valentine’s Day, Mallard Creek lost its best player, senior Elle Stone, Jazmeen’s sister, a former Ms. N.C. Basketball candidate and a Delaware recruit. Stone injured her knee in a blowout win over Chambers.
So heading into the league final, the Mavericks didn’t look like the team that, at full strength, had only lost to one N.C. team all season — North Meck.
At least on paper.
“We’re definitely normally a run-and-jump team,” Dixon said. “We trap a lot and full-court press. But we have to adjust to the personnel we have now, and I’ve been saying since Monday that we’re rebuilding the plane as we’re flying it.”
Friday night, in front of a sold-out crowd at Chambers High, Mallard Creek played two different zone defenses and morphed from a team averaging 63 points per game into something totally different.
North Mecklenburg (23-3) had its second-lowest scoring output on the season and Mallard Creek’s No. 1 defensive target, Vikings sophomore center Lenise Joseph, scored 12 points, nearly 11 under her season average.
There were two other Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools conference championships held Friday — Butler beat Charlotte Catholic and South Meck beat Ardrey Kell — but there was no bigger surprise than what happened at Chambers.
Mallard Creek ended North Meck’s 15-game win streak and won its third straight conference tournament title under Dixon, who is in her fourth season.
“It feels amazing,” she said. “We definitely felt everyone’s energy, feeling like (North Meck) was just going to run through us, because we were down two significant players. We kept telling our girls to believe in themselves and keep pounding and keep fighting. And it’s just incredible for them to rise to the occasion like this and fight through adversity. I’m happy for them, truly, all the girls who stepped up and filled those gaps in their own way.
“It’s a great feeling.”
Butler rolls past Charlotte Catholic in SW4A finals
Butler completed a sweep of its Southwestern 4A opposition for the season Friday night, downing host Charlotte Catholic 64-44 in the conference tournament finals.
It was the third victory this season for the top-seeded Bulldogs (23-2) over second seed Charlotte Catholic (17-10), and it gave Butler a 14-0 record this season against Southwestern 4A foes.
The Bulldogs ended the drama early, scoring the game’s first 13 points, They led 19-8 after the first quarter and 31-18 at the half. Senior point guard Brooklyn Saunders scored eight first-half points.
The second half was a series of runs by each team. Butler expanded its lead to 39-22 on a basket by Chloe Ross, but the Cougars got back to within 41-28, getting 3-pointers from Sophie Dumler and Maggie Kernodle.
Then Butler went on a 5-0 run, with Ross scoring all five points.
Catholic closed to 13 points again, but Butler pulled back ahead. The Bulldogs’ lead reached 21 points on a 3-pointer by Saunders with 6:31 left in the game.
South Meck rolls past No. 14 Ardrey Kell in SoMECK final
South Mecklenburg High School girls basketball coach Justin Clarke says his team has been a solid third-quarter team all season.
On Friday at the Myers Park gymnasium with the highest stakes of the season on the line, the Sabres may have put forth their best third quarter as they ran away from Ardrey Kell on their way to a 66-52 victory to win the So Meck 4A Conference tournament title.
Since South Mecklenburg, Ardrey Kell and Myers Park — who South Mecklenburg defeated in Thursday’s semifinals — all finished 10-2 in the conference race, it meant this year’s tournament took on greater importance. And by virtue of its win, South Mecklenburg (23-4) will take the league’s No. 1 seed into the upcoming 4A state playoffs.
“This group has always been a really good third-quarter team,” Clarke said. “We just flipped the switch, battled and played better.”
With a 26-22 lead after an opening half with six ties and three lead changes, South Mecklenburg yielded the opening bucket of the second half before scoring the game’s next 12 points in a third quarter where the Sabres outscored the Knights 25-7 for a 51-29 lead entering the final period.
Sophomore guard K.B. Brown scored 12 of her game-high 24 points in the third quarter. Junior center Chloe Grant, later selected tournament MVP, had six of her eight points in the decisive quarter. Other standouts for South Mecklenburg were Nykira Arrington with 16 points, Kathleen Miller with six, Iryiah Wallace with five and Kaitlyn Hensley with four.
“K.B. has been a excellent floor leader for us,” said Clarke, whose school improved to 14-6 all time in conference tournament games. “She’s only a sophomore but she keeps on improving.”
▪ Ardrey Kell (17-9) got 15 points from Layla Mapp and nine each from Miyanna Veal and Imani Shelton.
Mallard Creek girls repeat as Queen City conference champions
Mallard Creek, No. 8 in The Observer’s Sweet 16 poll, upset No. 2 North Mecklenburg in the Queen City championship game.
Played before a sellout crowd, neither team established a big lead and the game came down to the final stages.
After a close back-and-forth battle, Mallard outlasted North Meck to win 44-40.
With one minute left in the game and Mallard Creek leading 41-38, North Meck forward Lenise Joseph knocked down a long two-point jumper to cut the lead by one.
But Mallard Creek guard and Queen City Conference tournament MVP My’Asia Young scored a fast break layup to put the Mavericks up 43-40 before Brianna Easterling sealed the game, knocking down a free throw to give Mallard Creek the conference title.
Mallard Creek guard Kiara Anderson scored 12 points.
North Meck guard Zion Pimental scored 12 points. Joseph finished with 11 points for North Meck.
— Reporter Steve Lyttle and correspondents Gerrell Wheeler and Richard Walker contributed
