ALTAMAHAW — Mission accomplished!
The Chatham Central girl’s basketball team added the 2019 1A Central Tar Heel Conference tournament title to its regular season crown on Friday night in convincing fashion.
The Lady Bears overwhelmed River Mill early enroute to a convincing 73-42 victory up in Altamahaw at Clover Garden Charter School.
“We played really well tonight,” said Chatham Central head coach Lynda Burke after the impressive win. “I thought we executed well offensively and came focused and ready to play. It was a team effort, I think nine different players scored for us. We were really balanced and everyone contributed.”
It was clear early on that Chatham Central didn’t come to go through the motions, rather the Lady Bears showed up ready to make a statement.
The result was the locals posting a dominating 30-10 opening stanza that saw Mary Grace Murchison, Taylor Hughes, and Abby Elkins collect eight points apiece. Elkins had four baskets in the paint, Hughes two transition buckets, a short jumper, and a pair of foul shots for her tally, and Murchison a pair of bombs from behind the arc to go with a fast break basket.
“They sort of feed off one another,” Burke pointed out. “Abby opened up things down low for the guards, and Mary Grace, Taylor and Cami (Hughes) opened things up inside with their outside shooting.”
Cami Hughes added four points in the period while River Mill received five from Mercedes King, including a trey, and four points from Trinity French.
The second quarter was a stalemate as both clubs scored 14 points to send the Bears into the locker rooms up comfortably at 44-24. Lauren Oldham had four points for the Bears in the stanza while Elkins chipped in three more.
Haley Bradshaw had six points for the Jaguars in the second while Megan Wilcox added a conventional three-point play, and King her second trey of the evening.
Any threat of a River Mill miracle comeback ended quickly in the third as the Bears scored eight straight points to open the stanza before posting an 18-9 advantage to pull ahead 62-33 entering the fourth. Maddy Elkins took over inside for Chatham Central in the frame, collecting nine points, while Murchison added a trey.
King sank her third three-pointer of the evening on the way to five points for the Jaguars in the third.
Lauren Collins would can a trey and a field goal for five points for the Bears in the fourth as the locals cruised on to the 73-42 win.
Maddy Elkins led all scorers in the contest with 15 while Abby Elkins chipped in 13 more for Chatham Central, and Murchison closed with 12, Taylor Hughes with 10, Collins with seven, and Oldham and Cami Hughes with six apiece.
River Mill was led offensively by 13 points from King, and 10 more from Bradshaw.
Chatham Central (19-3) was set to take the No. 4 seed into the 1A East Bracket in the NCHSAA State Playoffs on Tuesday night at home against Voyager Academy.