Saturday’s roundup: Bessemer City wins record-setting tiebreaker, Crest takes No. 2 spot in Big South and college basketball and baseball results

By Richard Walker
Bessemer City High was the winner of an tiebreaker to separate an unprecedented five-way tie for the Southern Piedmont 1A Conference girls basketball championship.

Bessemer City won the drawing to receive the league’s automatic No. 1 playoff seeding. The Yellow Jackets won a share of their third regular season girls basketball title in school history; Bessemer City was a co-champion in 1961 and 2001.

The Yellow Jackets, coached by Billy James, finished 8-4 this season along with Christ the King, Lincoln Charter, Piedmont Community Charter and Thomas Jefferson Classical.

It’s the largest tie in local high school basketball history. Previously, there had been a handful of three-way ties and one four-way tie.

Bessemer City’s boys were tri-Western Piedmont 2A champions with Cherryville and Lincolnton in the 1995 and 1996 seasons.

Ashbrook’s four-way tie with Harding, Myers Park and Olympic in the 1973 Division 8 4A Conference was the largest tie until Friday’s results left the Southern Piedmont girls race in a five-way knot.

On Saturday morning, the coaches and athletic directors met for a drawing that Bessemer City won. Christ the King took second, Thomas Jefferson third, Lincoln Charter fourth and Piedmont Community Charter fifth.

N.C. High School Athletic Association state basketball playoff pairings will be announced on Sunday.

Also on Saturday, Crest wrapped up the Big South 3A Conference’s No. 2 playoff seeding with winning 59-33 at Forestview in a makeup game from earlier this season. The result gives Crest a 10-4 overall record and 9-3 league record. Crest had won a coin flip with Kings Mountain (10-4, 9-3) for the No. 2 spot on Friday after Crest’s 60-56 win at Kings Mountain.

High school boys basketball
Pine Lake Prep 48, Mountain Island Charter 42: Pine Lake takes the No. 1 seed in the PAC 7 1A Conference entering next week’s playoffs with the win over the visiting Raptors.

Ashbrook 59, Huss 58 (Friday): Nash Heavner (19 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds) and Jordan Robertsom (15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks) led Ashbrook. And J.J. Moore (13 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists), Sincere Love (11 points, 6 rebounds), Cory Adams (11 points) and Ray Mackey (10 points) led Huss.

 

College men’s basketball
Belmont Abbey 96, Lees-McRae 92: L.J. McCoy tied his career high with 21 points and Belmont Abbey tied its season best with 11 3-pointers as the Crusaders imrpoved to 14-4 overall and 12-3 in Conference Carolinas.

 

College women’s basketball
Belmont Abbey 95, Converse 39: Allie Downing’s 23 points led Belmont Abbey as it improved to 17-2 overall and 13-1 in Conference Carolinas with a 13th straight win.

Gardner-Webb 75, Longwood 73: Alasia Smith had 20 points and eight rebounds off the bench to lead the Bulldogs (8-12, 8-7) to a “Senior Day” victory in Big South Conference play. Gardner-Webb next plays on Thursday and Friday at home against league rival Radford.

College baseball
Belmont Abbey 7-13, Chowan 4-3: The Crusaders completed a second straight doubleheader sweep on Saturday to open the season at 4-0. Zach Aehlert and Sean Johnson led the offense and Alex Sniffen, Joe Cooney and former Forestview standout Dylan Smith led the pitching in a 7-4 win in the opener and Ben Gobbel, Richard DeLaCruz and Griffin Baker were standouts in the 13-3 nightcap victory.

Wofford 11, Gardner-Webb 10: The teams play again Sunday in Spartanburg after splitting two games in Boiling Springs; Gardner-Webb won 5-4 on Friday.