2-14-22 roundup: High school swimming/diving and basketball, Pro basketball and football, Middle school basketball

By Richard Walker

Lincoln Charter held off league rival Pine Lake Prep to win the school’s first N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1A/2A girls swimming and diving state championship in Cary on Saturday.

The Eagles won their title thanks to a 200 Freestyle victory from Grace Wilson who churned to a 1:57.03 win. She also swam the first leg of the second-place 400 Free Relay team, combining with Brooklyn DeCann, Gianna D’Amato and Jade Chamblee to finish in 3:46.94.

Also for Lincoln Charter, Alex Givens won the boys diving championship and Scarlett Duncan was named the 2022 Sportsmanship Award winner.

 

 

 

High school basketball

Shelby’s record-setting boys basketball coach Aubrey Hollifield will be retiring at season’s end, the school confirmed.

Hollifield, who will remain on the school’s football coaching staff, has a 331-95 head coaching record entering this week’s conference tournament that makes him the seventh-winningest coach in Cleveland County history and third-winningest in Shelby history.

Only Crest’s Ed Peeler (536 victories), Shelby’s Lloyd Little (499), Fallston’s Blaine Baxter (475), Caser and Burns-Polkville’s Bill Halyburton (415), Shelby’s Cal Pass (386) and Burns’ Tommy Pruett (352) have more coaching wins in county history.

Entering this year’s conference tournament with a 14-4 record and a top seed, Shelby has made the playoffs all 16 previous seasons with nine league titles, two state titles (2009 and 2020) and four Western runner-up finishes (2007, 2008, 2012 and 2013).

Here’s the N.C. High School Athletic Association conference tournament pairings for Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln county conferences with results:

Big South 3A
Monday’s boys first round
Crest 70, North Gaston 40

South Point 75, Forestview 53

Huss at Kings Mountain

Cramer 81, Ashbrook 52: Will Kelly (47 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 steals), Justin Rocquemore (9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists) and John Hill (5 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks) led Cramer.

 

Monday’s girls first round
Ashbrook 77, Cramer 43: Kennette Bess and Madison Cole had 20 points apiece for Ashbrook and Hadley Womack (28 points, 5 steals) and Dasia Harris (11 points) led Cramer.

South Point 57, Crest 50: Maddie Frank (14 points, 3 assists), Amya Graham (13 pts, 24 rebounds), Toney Milton (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Lexi Birtwistle (11 points, 3 assists) led South Point.

Kings Mountain 61, Forestview 30: Khalia King (23 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals), Saniya Wilson (12 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists), CoRey Simpson (11 points, 6 rebounds), Austyn Dixon (5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 steals) and Alayna Patrick (3 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 7 steals) led Kings Mountain and Samantha Bolton (13 points) led Forestview.

Huss 68, North Gaston 44

Western Foothills 3A
Monday’s boys first round
Hickory 87, West Iredell 47

North Lincoln 74, St. Stephens 62

East Lincoln 75, Foard 28: Palmer Crichton had 16 points and Drew Bean 13 for East Lincoln.

North Iredell 76, Statesville 43

Monday’s girls first round
East Lincoln 64, West Iredell 15

Foard 67, North Iredell 59

Hickory 71, North Lincoln 16

St. Stephens 37, Statesville 19

Southern Piedmont 1A/2A
Tuesday’s boys first round
Shelby-bye
East Gaston at Cherryville
Highland Tech at Bessemer City
Thomas Jefferson at Burns

Tuesday’s girls first round
Shelby-bye
East Gaston at Burns
Highland Tech at Thomas Jefferson
Cherryville at Bessemer City

Catawba Valley 2A
Tuesday’s boys first round
Newton-Conover at West Caldwell
Bandys at West Lincoln
Bunker Hill at Maiden
East Burke at Lincolnton

Tuesdsay’s girls first round
Newton-Conover-bye
Maiden at Bandys
Lincolnton at East Burke
West Lincoln at Bunker Hill

NCISAA Class 3A
Thursday’s boys first round
Calvary Day-Hickory Grove Christian at Gaston Christian

Tuesday’s girls first round
Gaston Christian at Hickory Grove Christian

NCISAA Class 2A
Tuesday’s boys first round
Hickory Christian at Gaston Day

Tuesday’s girls first round
Gaston Day at Statesville Christian

 

 

 

Middle school basketball

(Monday’s games)
BOYS
Stanley 50 Chavis 45: Luke Bryant had 14 points, R.J. Rowe 13 and Caleb Smith 11 for Stanley.

Holbrook 41, Grier 35: Savion Lindsay and Dyson Britt had 18 points apiece to lead Holbrook.

GIRLS
Stanley 34, Chavis 27

Holbrook 56, Grier 7: O’Shauna Holland (12 points, 8 steals), Shemiah McCoy (9 points) and Ellia Barajas (8 points) led Holbrook.

Upcoming schedule:

(Tuesday)
W.C. Friday at Belmont (girls only)

(Wednesday)
Bessemer City at York Chester

(Thursday)
Belmont at Stanley
Bessemer City at Southwest
Chavis at Mount Holly
Holbrook at Cramerton
W.C. Friday at Grier

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pro basketball

Here is the Charlotte Hornets’ full regular season schedule (with results):

OCTOBER
Wed. 20 INDIANA (W 123-122)
Fri. 22 at Cleveland (W 123-112)
Sun. 24 at Brooklyn (W 111-95)
Mon. 25 BOSTON (L 129-140, OT)
Wed. 27 at Orlando (W 120-111)
Fri. 29 at Miami (L 99-114)
Sun. 31 PORTLAND (W 125-113)
NOVEMBER
Mon. 1 CLEVELAND (L 110-113)
Wed. 3 at Golden State (L 92-114)
Fri. 5 at Sacramento (L 110-140)
Sun. 7 at LA Clippers (L 106-120)
Mon. 8 at L.A. Lakers (L 123-126, OT)
Wed. 10 at Memphis (W 118-108)
Fri. 12 NEW YORK (W 104-96)
Sun. 14 GOLDEN STATE (W 106-102)
Wed. 17 WASHINGTON (W 97-87)
Fri. 19 INDIANA (W 121-118)
Sat. 20 at Atlanta (L 105-115)
Mon. 22 at Washington (W 109-103)
Wed. 24 at Orlando (W 108-99)
Fri. 26 MINNESOTA (W 133-115)
Sat. 27 at Houston (L 143-146, OT)
Mon. 29 at Chicago (L 119-133)
DECEMBER
Wed. 1 at Milwaukee (L 125-127)
Sun. 5 at Atlanta (W 130-127)
Mon. 6 PHILADELPHIA (L 124-127, OT)
Wed. 8 PHILADELPHIA (L 106-110)
Fri. 10 SACRAMENTO (W 124-123)
Mon. 13 at Dallas (L 96-120)
Wed. 15 at San Antonio (W 131-115)
Fri. 17 at Portland (L 116-125)
Sun. 19 at Phoenix (L 106-137)
Mon. 20 at Utah (L 102-112)
Thu. 23 at Denver (W 115-107)
Mon. 27 HOUSTON (W 123-99)
Wed. 29 at Indiana (W 116-108)
JANUARY
Sun. 2 PHOENIX (L 99-133)
Mon. 3 at Washington (L 121-124)
Wed. 5 DETROIT (W 140-111)
Sat. 8 MILWAUKEE (W 114-106)
Mon. 10 MILWAUKEE (W 103-99)
Wed. 12 at Philadelphia (W 109-98)
Fri. 14 ORLANDO (L 109-116)
Mon. 17 at New York (W 97-87)
Wed. 19 at Boston (W 111-102)
Fri. 21 OKLAHOMA CITY (W 121-98)
Sun. 23 ATLANTA (L 91-113)
Tue. 25 at Toronto (L 113-125)
Wed. 26 at Indiana (W 158-126)
Fri. 28 L.A. LAKERS (W 117-114)
Sun. 30 LA CLIPPERS (L 90-115)
FEBRUARY
Wed. 2 at Boston (L 107-113)
Fri. 4 CLEVELAND (L 101-102)
Sat. 5 MIAMI (L 86-104)
Mon. 7 TORONTO (L 101-116)
Wed. 9 CHICAGO (L 109-121)
Fri. 11 at Detroit (W 141-119)
Sat. 12 MEMPHIS (L 118-125)
Tue. 15 at Minnesota 8:00
Thu. 17 MIAMI 7:00
Fri. 25 TORONTO 7:00
Sun. 27 DETROIT 7:00
Mon. 28 at Milwaukee 8:00
MARCH
Wed. 2 at Cleveland 7:00
Sat. 5 SAN ANTONIO 7:00
Tue. 8 BROOKLYN 7:00
Wed. 9 BOSTON 7:00
Fri. 11 at New Orleans 8:00
Mon. 14 at Oklahoma City 8:00
Wed. 16 ATLANTA 7:00
Sat. 19 DALLAS 7:00
Mon. 21 NEW ORLEANS 7:00
Wed. 23 NEW YORK 7:00
Fri. 25 UTAH 7:00
Sun. 27 at Brooklyn 7:30
Mon. 28 DENVER 7:00
Wed. 30 at New York 7:30
APRIL
Sat. 2 at Philadelphia 12:30
Tue. 5 at Miami 7:30
Thu. 7 ORLANDO 7:00
Fri. 8 at Chicago 8:00
Sun. 10 WASHINGTON TBD

 

 

 

 

Pro football

The Carolina Panthers finished putting together their offensive coaching staff Monday, with new some new hires that align with new coordinator Ben McAdoo.

The Panthers moved Kevin Gilbride to tight ends coach. He had worked as a defensive analyst for the Panthers last season, but coached tight ends for the Giants while McAdoo was offensive coordinator and head coach there. The son of the former Chargers head coach and Giants offensive coordinator of the same name, the 42-year-old Gilbride has also coached tight ends for the Bears, and was a quality control coach and receivers coach with the Giants as well. He also worked on the Temple staff when Panthers head coach Matt Rhule was an assistant there (2007-09).

The Panthers also hired Joe Dailey as wide receivers coach. The former University of North Carolina quarterback and receiver spent the last two seasons coaching wide receivers at Boston College. He has also worked as offensive coordinator at New Mexico, and spent seven years at Liberty, along with stops at Buffalo, Kansas, and Bethune Cookman. He has played for and coached under veteran assistant Frank Cignetti, who was McAdoo’s quarterback coach with the Giants.

Finally, the team added Robert Kugler as assistant offensive line coach. Kugler, a Purdue product who had a brief stint with the Bills in 2016, has coached at Texas-El Paso, Washington, and Appalachian State before joining new Panthers line coach James Campen with the Texans last year. He’s the son of longtime coach Sean Kugler, who is now the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for the Cardinals.