HILLSBOROUGH — The bid for a 1A Central Tar Heel Conference tournament title fell short for the Chatham Charter girls Saturday morning as the locals suffered a tough 53-48 defeat to Clover Garden at Eno River Academy in Hillsborough.
The Knights, now 25-3, trailed the entire contest before seeing a 20-10 run in the final eight minutes of action to storm back and make a run at the win.
By virtue of the regular season title, Chatham Charter will still take the top-seed out of the CTH into the upcoming state playoffs while Clover Garden improves to 25-4 on the season and avenged two earlier losses to the Knights.
Tamaya Walden had 20 points in the win and the freshman added a rebound, four assists and three steals while Rebecca McGaughnea chipped in 18 points, six boards and three steals, and Morgan Lineberry four points, 11 rebounds and an assist. Lillian Jones added four points, four boards, one assist and two steals while Taylor Brewer chipped in two points and five rebounds, and Olivia Cheek two boards and five assists.
Clover Garden, which led 15-11 after one period of play, 28-17 at the half, and 43-28 entering the fourth, was led by 18 points from Jaclyn Faucette while Reagan Allison chipped in 12, and Emma Hackney and Lexie Roberts nine apiece.
Chatham Charter had rolled 72-22 over Research Triangle in the semifinals on Wednesday evening at Eno River Academy behind 21 points from Lillian Jones, 15 from Lineberry, 14 from McGaughnea, eight apiece from Cheek and Walden, and six from Brewer.
The Knights outscored the Raptors 29-9 in the opening period before using a 14-5 spurt in the second quarter to go up 43-14 at the half, a 22-3 run in the third to move in front 55-17.
Lineberry and McGaughnea chipped in 13 and 12 boards respectively while Walden added five boards, seven assists and five steals.
Chatham Charter opened the CTH tournament on Monday night in Siler City with a 50-30 drubbing of Cornerstone Christian Academy (4-18).
The locals led 9-0 after one period of play and 25-8 at the intermission before never looking back.
Lineberry had 22 points and 10 rebounds in the win while Walden chipped in 13 points, five boards, five assists and six steals, and Cheek eight points, one rebound, two assist and three steals.
Ashleigh Tyree led the Cardinals with eight points while Anna Fink and Yasmyne Cornelius added six apiece in the loss.