Lake Norman girls win first state basketball title on buzzer beater vs. Raleigh Wakefield
Rayana Minard won Lake Norman its first girls’ basketball championship Saturday.
Junior Kelsey Rhyne worked with the ball near midcourt during the final seconds of the Wildcats’ 43-41 victory in the NCHSAA 4A state title game, holding off Wakefield’s pesky defenders who even poked the ball away from her.
But as had been the case throughout the afternoon, Lake Norman kept itself in control.
Minard came up and set a screen, from which she rolled off and was the beneficiary of a pass from Rhyne. Still surrounded by the Wolverines’ defense, Minard got the ball to senior Alexis Shehan — who sent a pass right back a dashing Minard to do the honors.
“I knew a lot was at stake,” Minard said. “It was now or never.”
Minard, the Wildcats’ junior shooting guard, finished with 10 points and was voted MVP. Alexis Shehan led all scorers with 13 points for Lake Norman, while her sister, Samantha Shehan, put up nine points.
“We executed a play that we’ve been able to run all year, and we got the action that we wanted to off it,” head coach McKenzie Graham, a Lake Norman graduate, said. “Just excited to be in this spot. They were battled, they were bruised, and that’s all you want in a state championship game: To have good competition, and come out on the winning side of it.”
How Lake Norman defeated Wakefield for its first title
While Lake Norman had opened an eight-point lead late in the first quarter, both offenses started off slowly in the opening championship game at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Wakefield struck first and held onto a 4-2 lead nearly six minutes into the game, before Rhyne and Samantha Shehan knocked down 3-pointers that helped the Wildcats build an early advantage.
But the Wolverines battled right back, briefly taking the lead during the second quarter after Sydney Conti made a couple of threes. They kept the game close with seven different scorers and tied the game at 30, and Lake Norman’s lead was 35-33 entering the fourth quarter.
“We were back in the state championship two years ago, my sophomore year, and ever since that loss we’ve just been wanting to win that state championship,” Alexis Shehan said. “Last year, we got knocked out a little early on. I just could not be more excited and proud of this team that we were able to get that win for the seniors. It feels so, like, accomplished right now, and I’m at a loss of words.”
With the Wildcats ahead by six points and under three minutes left, Minard came up with a huge steal and drove down the floor for a layup. Wakefield scored again and called timeout — before a pair of 3-pointers during the final minute tied it 41-41 with 19.6 seconds on the clock.
“I knew coming into this game, we had to hold this team below 40 (points),” Wakefield head coach Jason Lee said of his defense. “And they happened to get 43, and that’s why they won — because we let them get above 40.”
Notable
▪ Lake Norman, ranked No. 3 in the state, lost only one game this season — a 66-52 game at home against Georgia’s Hebron Christian Academy, a Top 10 team in the nation.
▪ The Wildcats posted their lowest scoring total of the season Saturday. The team averages 74.4 points per game, and their previous low was 50 points in their win over Carrollton of Georgia on Dec. 18.
▪ Wakefield, the high school on the north side of Raleigh, is ranked No. 5 in the state. Five of the Wolverines’ players average at least seven points per game.
They said it
“It definitely has exceeded my expectations,” Minard said of her first year at Lake Norman. “I had a really good time with the players, a really good season knowing everybody and getting to know everyone’s personality. It really changed me as a person, and then with the best coach.”
“You didn’t have to say that,” Graham said.
Minard added: “The best coach being by my side has just been a blessing.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2025 at 2:13 PM.
