By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
While Southeast Alamance’s girls’ basketball team achieved the same result as previous meetings against rival Eastern Alamance when the teams faced off in the Class 5-A East Region’s fourth round, the route to victory was much smoother.
And much more impressive.
The undefeated Stallions built a big early lead on the way to defeating the visiting Eagles 59-42 on Monday night.
“You know what they’re going to run, what we’re going to run,” Southeast center Clara LaChapelle said. “We just fixed all the little things that we hadn’t done right the past three games (vs. Eastern). When you fix those things and you harp on that and just really have a defensive mindset, you get outcomes like these.”
Lopez scored 14 points, Shaniya Paylor and Rreanna Johnson each supplied 13 points, and LaChapelle had eight points and 12 rebounds.
“We’re capable of nights like this, where we’re almost all hitting,” LaChapelle said. “I felt like everybody was having a good game.”
The top-seeded Stallions (28-0), attempting to repeat as state champions, face second-seeded Rocky Mount (22-2), a 48-31 winner against sixth-seeded Rockingham County, at 6:00 p.m. Saturday at East Carolina’s Minges Coliseum in Greenville. The winner advances to next week’s state championship game against Forest Hills or North Lincoln.
Unlike the past three Southeast/Eastern encounters that were close in the final quarter – along with an overtime game 10 nights earlier in the Mid-Carolina Conference Tournament championship game, the Stallions left no doubt about this one.
“I know how good they are, having to play a team a fourth time, yeah, there was some anxiety, definitely,” Southeast coach Amy Sarratt said.
Southeast scored the game’s first 13 points until Eastern’s Ty’Tiana Ross drained a 3-pointer.
“My girls thought they were ready,” Eastern coach LeConnda Curry said of the slow start.
Lopez’s second 3-pointer of the first quarter made it 20-3.
“I’ve been off lately, so this game was big for me hitting shots,” said Lopez, whose third-quarter 3 pushed the gap to 43-24.
The Stallions, who received a boost from reserve Nevaeh Foust with rebounding and defense in the lane, addressed several areas that needed upgrades vs. fourth-seeded Eastern (21-6), which hasn’t lost to a team other than Southeast since December 10.
“We talked about things we needed to correct and I just thought it was a great team win,” Sarratt said. “That’s a very good team. We knew we were going to have to play well to beat them.”
Lopez said, “This time we were going in there working on defense, that is our game.”
Eastern’s Aliya Trollinger scored 14 points, Ross had 12 points, and Rihanna Gregory provided nine points. Eastern’s point total was the second-lowest of the season, while the Eagles allowed more than 59 points only once.
“They were making shots and it was hard for us to catch up,” Curry said.
The Eagles led in the final minute of the first matchup at home prior to Southeast pulling away in the regular-season rematch. Southeast prevailed in league tournament’s neutral-site clash at Roxboro Person.
When the fourth meeting was complete, Trollinger, the lone Eastern senior, shared hugs with a few Southeast players, including a long embrace with LaChapelle.
“We knew it might be like kind of an emotional game,” LaChapelle said. “Feelings were going to be high. Nobody wants to go home. Our biggest point of emphasis was stay level-headed, keep our composure, just do what we do best.”
How Southeast advanced
The Stallions drubbed ninth-seeded Pikeville Aycock by 56-30 on Saturday. LaChapelle scored 22 points and Johnson provided 11 points. Pikeville Aycock finished 18-6.
Southeast cruised past No. 17 seed St. Pauls 65-36 in last Thursday’s second round. LaChapelle scored 22 points.
How Eastern advanced
The Eagles socked fifth-seeded Seaforth 70-43 on Saturday, defeating the Hawks (20-4) for the second time this season.
Eastern overwhelmed No. 13 seed West Carteret 73-37 in last Thursday’s second round with 23 points from Trollinger, 15 points from Gregory, and 11 points from Makayla Scott.
Western’s path ends
Also in Class 5-A, No. 10 seed Western Alamance took Rocky Mount to overtime before falling 67-59 on Saturday.
Western (17-9), a state champion a year ago, was attempting to win its third game in five days. The Warriors rallied from a 49-39 deficit through three quarters to force overtime at 56-56. Kira Jones poured in 29 points for Rocky Mount.
The Warriors claimed a 60-38 road victory against seventh-seeded Currituck County last Thursday in the second round.
Class 4-A girls
No. 16 seed Cummings couldn’t keep up with top-seeded High Point Andrews in last Thursday’s 55-31 loss in the second round of the East Region.
The Cavaliers, who received 10 points from Alaiyah Mitchell and nine points apiece from LaNiya Johnson and Emmerie Maye, ended the season at 13-9.
Class 1-A girls
Clover Garden lost 59-38 at home to No. 12 seed Highlands School in the West Region last Thursday. The fifth-seeded Grizzlies finished with a 17-7 record.
