North Lincoln girls basketball earns date in NCHSAA 5A final. Here's how
· Yahoo Sports
HICKORY — North Lincoln girls basketball took a circuitous route back to Winston-Salem, but the Knights are inevitably where they expected to be.
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After the use of an ineligible player dropped North Lincoln to a 23-seed ahead of the NCHSAA 5A West playoffs, the Knights are the bracket’s last team standing following a 79-51 regional final win over fifth-ranked Forest Hills at Lenoir-Rhyne’s Shuford Arena.
The win earns North Lincoln its first trip to a state final, where it will meet Southeast Alamance next week at Wake Forest’s Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. More importantly, it helped erase bitter memories from its loss last spring in the regional final round.
“We were just thrilled to be able to take the journey we took to get back to this game, and have a little redemption for last year’s Final Four loss to turn it around this year,” said North Lincoln girls basketball coach Kristen Karr. “These girls didn’t let anything bring them down. They understood that in order to move on, you have to win. The path we thought we were going to have got changed, but the journey is still the same.
“You still have to win to move on, you still have to beat good teams. These girls accepted the path we were given and stepped up.”
Ally Smith led the Knights with 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Ashlyn Black and Madi Black also scored in double figures, adding 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Things didn’t start as hoped for North Lincoln, however, Forest Hills throwing the opening volley with the game’s first seven points. The Knights missed their first six shots, in addition to turning the ball over three times.
North Lincoln followed by scoring the game’s next 12 points, allowing it to close the first quarter with a 15-9 lead. Things only opened up from there for the Knights, opening up a 20-point halftime lead. North Lincoln led by as many as 28 points. The Knights outscored Forest Hills 38-22 in the paint, and held a 21-2 advantage in fast break points.
According to Forest Hills girls basketball coach Brandon Rains, his team’s inability to control the paint played a major role in the Knights’ dominance.
“We got beat on the rebounds (Saturday night) and couldn’t keep (Smith) from going downhill,” said Rains.
With one more goal left to achieve, the Knights believe they have the right formula to bring home the program’s first NCHSAA state title.
“I think we just got to do what we’ve been doing,” said North Lincoln’s Lydia Cipriano. “We’re best friends off the court, so it pulls us together when we’re playing (and on the floor) we have so much chemistry. It just keeps us going.”
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: North Lincoln girls basketball downs Forest Hills in NCHSAA 5A West final