Pollard girls take fourth straight middle school tournament crown with rout of Horton

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PITTSBORO — For the fourth season in a row the Margaret Pollard girls completed a perfect 17-0 season with a dominating 47-30 triumph over rival Horton in the 2020 Chatham County Middle School Tournament finals on Monday evening in Pittsboro.

The game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated as Pollard coach Harold Baldwin cleared the bench throughout the second half after his club bolted to a 16-4 lead after one period of play, a commanding 35-12 advantage at the intermission, and a 47-14 cushion entering the fourth.

“I thought we came out focused and played really well from the start,” Baldwin commented after the win. “I’m proud of this team. They worked hard and tonight capped it off. As a program, we’ve won 68 straight games with our last loss coming in the tournament finals to Bennett five years ago.”

In the final period, Horton outscored Pollard 16-0 to make the final 47-30.

The Pollard duo of Skylar Adams and Gabby White were too much for Horton to handle on Monday evening as the duo combined for 35 points.

Adams sandwiched a pair of treys by White to open the game with two driving hoops before White, a seventh-grader, laid in a basket off a steal with 1:52 left in the opening stanza to give Pollard a 12-0 lead.

Horton finally got on the board at the 1:07 mark when Neah Henry scored on a rebound before Mikaylah Glover scored moments later to close the deficit to 10-4.

Jenna Thompson countered with a three-pointer for Pollard with :10.2 seconds remaining in the quarter to cap a 4-0 surge that sent the hosts up 16-4 after one.

A steal and basket by Avery Fauth to open the second period put Pollard up 18-4 before Anna Bolejack and Shaylah Glover added two foul shots each to trim the deficit to 18-8 at the 4:57 mark.

Pollard would embark on a 15-0 run over the next three minutes to all but put the game away at 33-8. White had eight points in the run including a pair of treys while Adams had seven points while also draining a three-pointer.

Shaylah Glover, a 5’10 sixth-grader, and twin sister of MiKaylah, tallied a pair of low post baskets to end the frame to counter another driving hoop from Adams to make the score 35-12 at the intermission.

Pollard outscored Horton 12-2 in the third as White scored off a drive, Edwards swished a trey from four feet behind the arc, and Fauth scored off a drive to open the period to give the hosts a commanding 42-12 advantage before Baldwin pulled the starters for almost the entire remainder of the contest.

Bailen Fauth, the seventh-grade twin of Avery, and Callan Perchinsky added buckets in the period while Sofia Ramirez chipped in a foul shot to make the score 47-14 after three.

In the fourth, a glimpse of things to come in the future was on display as Shaylah Glover posted 10 points in the fourth for Horton while Bolejack, an eight-grader, added six points to make the final 47-30.

White led all scorers with 19 while Adams chipped in 16, Avery Fauth four, and Jenna Thompson three on a trey. Adams chipped in eight rebounds and seven steals in the win.

Shaylah Glover had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Horton while Bolejack added 10 points, seven boards and five steals, and MiKaylah Glover eight points and 10 rebounds.