Westchester girls advance in playoffs
• Michael Lindsay | Enterprise Sports Writer
HIGH POINT — Westchester Country Day got back to its winning ways to start the playoffs.
The eighth-seeded Wildcats built a big lead early, clamped down defensively and defeated Carolina Friends 37-14 on Tuesday at Westchester in the opening round of the NCISAA 2A West girls basketball playoffs.
“We played well — at this time of year you’ve got to play well,” Westchester coach Jeremy Autry said with a laugh. “Across the board everybody contributed. Lucy (Larkin Heard) is a starter for us, but some games she doesn’t because I rotate.
“But when she comes in defensively it changes the game. She’s a heckuva player defensively. They worked hard and we’re happy to be seeded this year. We’ve worked hard, and I think this validates that.”
Covington Hauser scored 12 points to lead the Wildcats (8-11), who hosted a home playoff game for just the second time since reaching the finals in 2005. Lily Wilson added nine points while Ali Schwartz chipped in six points.
“It was very big for us,” Wilson, the team’s lone senior, said of the win. “It’s been four years in waiting.”
Westchester, which hosted and won a first-round game in 2019, scored 11 of the game’s first 13 points to quickly take control. It scored on five of its first seven possessions, forcing misses and turnovers on defense and hitting jumpers on offense.
The Wildcats scored all of the points in the second to lead 21-4 into halftime. Rotating in a number of reserves in the second half, they pushed their lead to 23 in the third and to 35 in the latter half of the fourth.
Sky Hughes scored four points to lead the Quakers (3-10).
“We all came together as a team and that really helped us,” Wilson said. “It was great. It felt really good. I think it’s setting a good foundation for the future — it’ll only go up from here.”
After finally concluding a difficult conference schedule against a number of larger schools, Westchester won in the playoffs for the second time in a decade and a half — which is another positive step for a program that was on hiatus just a few years ago.
The Wildcats will next travel to top-seeded The Burlington School (17-7) on Thursday at 5 p.m.
“The next one’s going to be hard, but we’re building,” Autry said. “To be seeded in the top eight in the West and take care of business at home, it shows the kids are doing the right things.
“Outside of maybe three or four games, we competed,” he said, noting the contributions of all his players in that regard. “We’re not worried about winning and losing, as crazy as that sounds.
“We’re worried about competing every possession and seeing where the chips fall.”
mlindsay@hpenews.com | 336-888-3526 | @HPEmichael
• Michael Lindsay | Enterprise Sports Writer
HIGH POINT — Westchester Country Day got back to its winning ways to start the playoffs.
The eighth-seeded Wildcats built a big lead early, clamped down defensively and defeated Carolina Friends 37-14 on Tuesday at Westchester in the opening round of the NCISAA 2A West girls basketball playoffs.
“We played well — at this time of year you’ve got to play well,” Westchester coach Jeremy Autry said with a laugh. “Across the board everybody contributed. Lucy (Larkin Heard) is a starter for us, but some games she doesn’t because I rotate.
“But when she comes in defensively it changes the game. She’s a heckuva player defensively. They worked hard and we’re happy to be seeded this year. We’ve worked hard, and I think this validates that.”
Covington Hauser scored 12 points to lead the Wildcats (8-11), who hosted a home playoff game for just the second time since reaching the finals in 2005. Lily Wilson added nine points while Ali Schwartz chipped in six points.
“It was very big for us,” Wilson, the team’s lone senior, said of the win. “It’s been four years in waiting.”
Westchester, which hosted and won a first-round game in 2019, scored 11 of the game’s first 13 points to quickly take control. It scored on five of its first seven possessions, forcing misses and turnovers on defense and hitting jumpers on offense.
The Wildcats scored all of the points in the second to lead 21-4 into halftime. Rotating in a number of reserves in the second half, they pushed their lead to 23 in the third and to 35 in the latter half of the fourth.
Sky Hughes scored four points to lead the Quakers (3-10).
“We all came together as a team and that really helped us,” Wilson said. “It was great. It felt really good. I think it’s setting a good foundation for the future — it’ll only go up from here.”
After finally concluding a difficult conference schedule against a number of larger schools, Westchester won in the playoffs for the second time in a decade and a half — which is another positive step for a program that was on hiatus just a few years ago.
The Wildcats will next travel to top-seeded The Burlington School (17-7) on Thursday at 5 p.m.
“The next one’s going to be hard, but we’re building,” Autry said. “To be seeded in the top eight in the West and take care of business at home, it shows the kids are doing the right things.
“Outside of maybe three or four games, we competed,” he said, noting the contributions of all his players in that regard. “We’re not worried about winning and losing, as crazy as that sounds.
“We’re worried about competing every possession and seeing where the chips fall.”
mlindsay@hpenews.com | 336-888-3526 | @HPEmichael
