MISENHEIMER –– Both the boys and girls West Stanly basketball teams fell short in their Rocky River Conference tournament finals Friday night.
The third-seeded boys’ squad (16-11, 5-5) suffered a 69-53 loss to first-seeded Forest Hills (25-0, 10-0), while the second-seeded girls’ team (16-10, 7-3) were defeated by top-seeded Forest Hills (17-7, 10-0) by a score of 61-42.
Both teams were also defeated in their 2A state playoffs openers Tuesday. The 25th-seeded boys fell to eighth-seeded Lake Norman Charter (20-6, 9-2) 59-54, and the 15th-seeded girls suffered a 53-42 home loss to 18th-seeded West Wilkes (18-6, 10-4).
West Stanly junior Austin Medlin was named the boys’ RRC Player of the Year. Medlin, as well as junior Trevor Kelly, were included in the RRC All-Conference Team; senior Brack Morgan and senior Ethan Conner were named to the Honorable Mention Conference Team.
On the girls’ side, senior Carmen Bishop, senior Dani Moss and senior Raelee Furr were named to the All-Conference Team; junior Rachel Efird and junior Kailey Furr were named to the Honorable Mention Conference Team.
In the boys’ game, the Colts rallied from an early 14-point deficit and found themselves within three points of the Yellow Jackets late in the third quarter. From that point on, West Stanly was outscored 36-23.
“For half of the game, we played with them. We just can’t allow them to make their long runs,” said coach John Thompson. “We have to know when to slow the pace of the game down and when to speed it up.”
It was a similar story for the girls’ team: a 16-point deficit was cut down to five points in the third quarter, only to see the Colts outscored 29-15 after that.
“We beat ourselves by not rebounding. We gave up 15 offensive rebounds,” said coach Chad Horn. “It’s hard to beat a team that can score really well when you give up that many offensive rebounds in a game. Still, our girls played well and played with heart. They didn’t give up in the second half.”
Leading the boys in scoring was Medlin, who had 18 points, five rebounds and two assists; the rest of the starters contributed for a combined 10 points. Freshman Tayshawn Haygood recorded 12 points off the bench with 5-for-9 shooting from the field.
Forest Hills forward Alec Topper led his team with 16 points and eight rebounds. He was assisted by Jalen Huntley and Tyveon Burch, who put up 13 and 11 points, respectively.
As a team, the Colts were only 39.2% from the field (20-51) while the Yellow Jackets made 48% of their shots (24-50).
Leading the girls in scoring was Raelee Furr, who recorded 10 points, five rebounds and an assist. Six other players scored points in the game, though none of them reach double-figures. Efird had a team-high 11 rebounds to go with five points and four assists.
For the Yellow Jackets, guard Jamyah Bakeney notched 23 points on 8-for-18 shooting. Starters Tiana Sloan put up 11 points while Hope Benson scored 10.
The Colts converted 42% of their shots (18-43) compared to Forest Hills’ 38.7% (24-62) but were outscored at the free–throw line 11-2.