Published: 10:53 AM, Tue Mar 09, 2010
Terry Sanford boys, East Bladen girls make second straight trip to finals
By Earl Vaughan Jr.
Scholastic sports editor
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK - Just the odds of being at the press conference Monday for this weekend's state high school basketball championship games were enough to impress Terry Sanford boys' coach Bill Boyette.
Imagine the effect of calculating the percentages of getting to the last game two years in a row.
Rick Strunk of the N.C. High School Athletic Association staff announced to the press conference gathering that 772 basketball teams, boys and girls, began the 2009-10 season aiming to reach the championship game.
For Terry Sanford, it's two trips in a row to the state finals, this time with a gaudy 31-0 record, as they take on Mooresville Lake Norman on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the 4-A state title game at N.C. State's Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.
The game will be broadcast live by News 14 Carolina on Time Warner Cable.
"I don't think the average basketball fan understands how hard this is to do," Boyette said of back-to-back trips to the championship game. "You've got to be pretty good and you've got to be lucky."
Boyette said the Bulldogs have been focused all season on one goal, the state title, and haven't even discussed their unbeaten record. "We're senior oriented, and I think that helps," Boyette said. "The focus they've shown, one game at a time, has been impressive to me. I hope we've got one more in us."
Boyette has frequently talked about this team's chemistry throughout the season and said it's likely the most important ingredient when it comes to a basketball team.
"Our players enjoy playing together," he said. "They're good friends on and off the court. They do stuff together off the court.
"Those guys believe in each other, rely on each other and take a lot of pride in what they do."
When they break the huddle before every game, Boyette said the team says one word in unison, "Family."
"That does a great job of describing our team," he said
The Bulldog family will make no changes in its routine this week as it prepares for the state title game Saturday. Boyette gave the team Monday off while his coaching staff continued to gather scouting information on Lake Norman.
Boyette said he expected starter Robert Carpenter to be fully healed from the hand injury he suffered in the sectional tournament, if he's not healed already.
Lake Norman is making its first trip to a state title game. The Bulldogs are back for a second year, which Boyette hopes is an advantage for his team. "The experience of being in this game, regardless of the facility, I would hope would make a difference for our players," he said. "Last year we took the court and we were down 15 before we could take a breath.
"I think it's very important this year that we get off to a good start on both ends of the court."
Unbeatens clash
Patty Evers, coach of the East Bladen girls, shares some of the same feelings as Boyette as she brings her Eagles back for another try at the title, this time playing in the 2-A classification.
Unbeaten like Terry Sanford, East Bladen will meet another unbeaten team, Salisbury, for the 2-A girls' crown at noon Saturday at Reynolds Coliseum.
"It's a relief," Evers said of how it feels to be back in the title game. "They are a very good team and deserve to be here and I think we deserve to be here. We've played hard all year long and played great defense all year long."
Although East Bladen starts four juniors and a sophomore, Evers cautions people shouldn't mistake that youth for a lack of experience. "C.J. Melvin and Jazmine Kemp have been starting since they were freshmen," she said. "We have been in the Eastern Regionals for the past six years. I think that's going to help.
"They're maturing as a group, and that's what we had to stress all year long. If you make it to the state championship, you're going to play against girls that are as good as you, if not better. That's what we've tried to prepare them for."
Scholastic sports editor Earl Vaughan Jr. can be reached at vaughane@fayobserver.com or 486-3519.