By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Southeast Alamance’s girls’ basketball team will play for the first team state championship in the two-year history of the school after a riveting 48-45 victory against rival Seaforth in the Class 2-A East Region final Thursday afternoon at Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem.
The Stallions overcame an eight-point, third-quarter deficit in the fourth meeting between the Mid-Carolina Conference teams this season. Each side has won twice, but Southeast collected the most important victory.
“That game was a battle from the start to the end,” Southeast coach Amy Sarratt said. “Last time we played them, we didn’t feel like we played well, and I think that gave us like a little bit of ammunition for this game.”
Southeast (28-3) faces North Wilkes (30-1), a 60-36 winner against East Burke in Thursday night’s West Region final, in Saturday’s 5:05 p.m. state championship, which is also at Joel Coliseum. It will be the second of four games on the docket.
Southeast, which was the No. 12 seed in the East Region because it lost in the conference tournament final to Seaforth, won once at home before three road games and then the neutral-court conquering of second-seeded Seaforth.
“This team has been ready all year,” Sarratt said. “We have probably the toughest route through the playoffs.”
The bracket took the Stallions up against the East Region’s Nos. 21, 5, 4, 1, and 2 seeds.
Clara LaChapelle scored 16 points for Southeast, while teammates Inysia McIver had 11 and Shaniya Paylor added 10.
In the regional final, the Stallions were boosted by an enthusiastic crowd that included three buses of student fans.
Katherine Leonard scored 14 points and Mia Moore had 11 points for Seaforth (28-3). Southeast held Virginia recruit Gabby White to 10 points on 3-for-15 shooting from the field. She grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
“We mixed up our defenses a little bit,” Sarratt said. “But they’re a great shooting team and they were draining 3s, so we ended up going to man(-to-man) and I think that was the turning point in the game.”
Natalie Lopez hit a go-ahead 3-pointer from in front of the main Southeast cheering section with 3:27 remaining. The Hawks responded with Peyton Collins’ basket at the 2:17 mark, but they didn’t score again.
Paylor sank two free throws with 47.9 seconds to play for a 48-45 edge. She missed a pair of attempts with 20.4 seconds to go,
But the Hawks couldn’t find an avenue to get off a shot, and called timeout with 8.2 seconds remaining. Following a tie-up with the possession arrow in Seaforth’s favor, the Hawks had a final inbounds play with 3.5 seconds showing. Moore missed on a high-arching corner 3 as the game ended.
“I think it was a hard-fought game both ways,” Seaforth coach Charles Byrd said. “When you play a team four times, especially when they were close, it’s anybody’s game.”
Leonard had 11 points in the first six minutes of the third quarter, pushing the Hawks to a 37-29 lead and resulting in the second timeout of the half called by the Stallions.
“We kind of told ourselves that they had their run and it was time for us to have our run,” LaChapelle said.
LaChapelle scored in the lane and Lopez drained a 3-pointer before the Stallions forced a turnover. Lopez converted on a runner to complete a 7-0 spurt.
Seaforth, which made nine 3-pointers, was held to six fourth-quarter points, in part because Southeast played keep-away after Lopez’s 3.
“We just kind of went cold at the end of the game,” Byrd said.
On Saturday in the Class 2-A boys’ final, defending champion Reidsville will take on Northwood at 7:35 p.m.
In Class 4-A, the girls’ title game matches Wakefield vs. Lake Norman at 12:05 p.m., while the boys’ final sends North Mecklenburg vs. New Hanover at 2:35 p.m.
