It was a great season in girls basketball in 2019-2020 as four of the five Chatham County teams made the NCHSAA state playoffs and three advanced into the third round.
Northwood, Chatham Charter, and Chatham Central all made it into the third round while Woods Charter made the state playoffs after not even fielding a team a year ago.
In Pittsboro, a young Northwood team posted a 22-6 record under coach Cameron Vernon and the Chargers led the way on the All-County team with five players.
Sophomore McKenna Snively, freshman Tekeyah Bland, junior Rae McClarty, sophomore Natalie Bell and freshman Gianna Mcmanaman all made the squad.
Snively, a 5-foot-10 guard, led the Chargers in threes while also providing a long guard that presented huge match-up problems with her length on the defensive end as well as off the dribble. With added strength, Snively could develop into one of the very top players in the county in the coming seasons.
Bland, meanwhile, came into Northwood with a lot of hype. The freshman delivered with 12 points per game to lead a Lady Chargers squad that was full of capable scores up and down the roster, leading to a great deal of balance. With develop and consistency the sky is the limit in the coming seasons for the 6-foot Bland who is also a force on the glass and in blocked shots (33), and mobile enough to get up and down the court in transition.
Bell, McClarty and Mcmanaman are basically a trio of stocking stuffers for coach Vernon. All three play tenacious on the ball defense out top with Bell lightning quick at 5-foot-2, and McClarty and Mcmanaman longer at 5-foot-8 each. Bell was second in the team in three-pointers with 26, Mcmanaman easily led the team in assists with 53, and McClarty added totals of 47 rebounds, 39 steals, 22 assists and 10 blocked shots.
In Siler City, the Chatham Charter girls obliterated every conceivable record this season, team and individually. In going 27-4, the Lady Knights placed three on the All-County team in freshman speedster Tamaya Walden, and junior twin towers Morgan Lineberry and Rebecca McGaughnea.
Walden, like Bland, was expected to explode onto the scene and the freshman did with a stat line that read like a Christmas gift. Walden scored 13.1 points per game, had 160 rebounds, 122 assists, 154 steals and 28 blocks. Little wonder that she is considered one of the up and coming stars in the county for the coming years.
Lineberry, at 6-foot-0, was one of the top post players in the county this fall and averaged 15 points and nine rebounds a game while also blocking 49 shots and recording 47 steals. The junior should be one of the top post players in the area next season regardless of classification.
McGaughnea did it all down low for the Knights, teaming up with Lineberry to give Chatham Charter and Coach Dameron n talented duo post presence. When needed, McGuaghnea could score while consistently providing a rebounding and defensive presence for the Knights.
In Bear Creek, Mary Grace Murchison and Danielle Vaughn, both junior guards, were selected for the Lady Bears after strong seasons which resulted in a 16-13 final record and a third round loss at Weldon, which was slated to play Murphy for the state title when COVID-19 put an end to things.
Murchison and Vaughn both ran the show as ball handlers for the Bears and did it all — scoring off the break, off the dribble and from behind the arc and setting up teammates via the pass. The two were both strong defensively and rebounded as well. Murchison and Vaughn should provide Chatham Central with one of the best guard combos in all of 1A next season.
In Siler City at Jordan-Matthews, one of the most exciting players in the county was sophomore Ellia Wright. The shifty 5-foot-4 guard did it all for first-year coach Charles Bryd with her tough defense, ability to drive, and quickness in the transition game. Wright paced the Lady Jets in scoring on the season and should be a fun player to watch in the area in the coming seasons.
Much of the same could be said for junior Emma Hutter-DeMarco of Woods Charter, who’s more of a strong and powerful guard who can also score off the dribble and from behind the arc like Wright. Hutter-DeMarco was the central figure in leading the Lady Wolves to a state playoff bid after the program failed to field a team a year earlier.
So by now you’ve guessed it, and probably realized that the Baker’s Dozen is one short. Well, I’ve decided to do something pretty unprecedented, and given these strange times, something appropriate. I’m letting four seniors share that final spot — not because they are the most talented players on the team, though they are all talented in their own right — but that they all played vital senior leadership roles for their respective teams and I basically debated for hours here at work back and forth for who should get the spot.
Finally, that was my conclusion, and why not honor these four in Chatham Central’s Eliana Phillips, Woods Charter’s Corinn Harrington, Northwood’s Caitlyn Bailey, and Jordan-Matthews’ Avery Headen.
Now the one thing all four brought outside of leadership was hustle, defense and capable scoring for their respective teams. Headen and Phillips did more from the outside though Phillips would seemingly line up everywhere while Bailey and Harrington were big on the boards for their teams and also capable scorers. So that final spot is for a foursome of seniors, and given the success of this season, very deserving.
The Chatham News + Record Baker’s Dozen All-County Girls’ Basketball Team
Natalie Bell (sophomore, Northwood)
Tekeyah Bland (freshman, Northwood)
Emma Hutter-DeMarco (junior, Woods Charter)
Morgan Lineberry (junior, Chatham Charter)
Rae McClarty (junior, Northwood)
Rebecca McGaughnea (junior, Chatham Charter)
Gianna Mcmanaman (freshman, Northwood)
Mary Grace Murchison (junior, Chatham Central)
McKenna Snively (sophomore, Northwood)
Danielle Vaughn (junior, Chatham Central)
Tamaya Walden (freshman, Chatham Charter)
Ellia Wright (sophomore, Jordan-Matthews)
Caitlyn Bailey (senior, Northwood), Corinn Harrington (senior, Woods Charter), Avery Headen (senior, Jordan-Matthews), Eliana Phillips (senior, Chatham Central) (tie)
Honorable Mention: Chandler Adams (senior, Northwood), MaKayla Glover (senior, Jordan-Matthews), Sophie Phillips (junior, Chatham Central), Jasmine Scotten (junior, Jordan-Matthews), Jy Smith (senior, Northwood), Savannah Stilwell (junior, Chatham Central)