Langley’s comeback pushes CCS to victory on Senior Night
By Jimmy Lewis jlewis@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807 | Twitter: @JimmyLewisWT
For a few terrifying moments, Alexis Langley feared the worst.
The Community Christian School senior was sent sprawling to the floor with 3:17 remaining in Thursday’s game with 1-A Mid-Carolina Conference foe Henderson Crossroads Christian.
Hitting the unforgiving Peace Church floor with her right knee, flashbacks to earlier bouts with tendonitis quickly came to mind as the ligament seared with pain. A full-on anxiety attack ensued.
But once she was helped to her feet and given a moment to calm down, the 6-foot-2 center snuck back into the game and didn’t miss a beat in doing her best Willis Reed impression.
She netted six of the final eight points for the Lady Cyclones on their Senior Night, helping CCS close it out over the final minutes en route to a 38-25 victory.
For good measure, the final buzzer sounded with Langley soundly blocking a Crossroads shot.
“When I landed, it scared me more than anything,” Langley said. “Because I hurt this knee a long time ago and I was worried something would be wrong with it. But I was feeling fine afterwards. I’ll feel it in the morning, though!”
As one of five CCS (3-6) seniors playing their final regular-season home game, Langley led the way with 15 points as a harried CCS offense at times was stabilized by her touches in the paint.
“We had a bad habit of trying to rush every time we got the ball,” CCS head coach Kenneth Atkinson said. “And it cost us a lot of turnovers. But once they decided the second half — I told them to slow the ball down. We started to slow it down and move the ball like we’re supposed to. It looked a lot better.”
Once the ball was funneled inside, the perimeter became open for fellow seniors Kelsie Strange and Abby Lenhart.
“Alexis was so much bigger than what they were,” Atkinson said. “It was obvious that we needed to get it in to her anyway.”
The game was scheduled in lieu of the MCC tournament for both Community Christian and Crossroads. Both programs, including fellow league member Southside Christian, elected not to participate in the conference tournament and allowed Lee Christian and Sanford Grace Christian to contest it amongst themselves.
Therefore, Thursday’s game amounted to an extra nonconference game among conference opponents. Quarters were reduced to six minutes in length with CCS staring at a 5 p.m. deadline to vacate the Peace Church premises. With double overtime in the MCC middle school boys semifinal preceding, that objective was not achieved.
But once Langley departed the game for a brief spell with CCS leading by five, senior Logan Vaughn hit a runner to make it a 30-23 CCS lead. With success coming in inconsistent fashion for the Lady Cyclones this season, Langley proceeded to resume her own assaults on the rim to close it out. Her fourth-quarter runner gave CCS its biggest lead of 15 at 38-23.
“During the season, we didn’t have that many games,” Atkinson said. “And most of the games we had, (Langley) got in early foul trouble. And that took her out of the game a lot. But tonight, staying away from foul trouble and playing her game in the second half, she looked real good.”
The game closed with all five CCS seniors — Olivia Walker, Langley, Strange, Lenhart and Vaughn on the floor simultaneously by design. Due to medical exemptions, both Walker and Lenhart played without the use of a face covering.
Lenhart added five points for the Lady Cyclones, who will now wait to see if at least one more game in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A playoffs awaits them.
“It was really nice coming out here and getting to do exactly what I knew I could have done all season,” Langley said.
CROSSROADS CHR. (25)
Patterson 2, Wiard 2, Simmons 4, Macklin 6, Boyd 2, Owens 9.
CCS (38)
Walker 4, Lyndon 4, Strange 4, Lenhart 5, Vaughn 4, Ferguson 2, Langley 15.
Score by quarters:
Crossroads Chr. 2 10 8 5 — 25
CCS 8 9 7 14 — 38
By Jimmy Lewis jlewis@wilsontimes.com | 265-7807 | Twitter: @JimmyLewisWT
For a few terrifying moments, Alexis Langley feared the worst.
The Community Christian School senior was sent sprawling to the floor with 3:17 remaining in Thursday’s game with 1-A Mid-Carolina Conference foe Henderson Crossroads Christian.
Hitting the unforgiving Peace Church floor with her right knee, flashbacks to earlier bouts with tendonitis quickly came to mind as the ligament seared with pain. A full-on anxiety attack ensued.
But once she was helped to her feet and given a moment to calm down, the 6-foot-2 center snuck back into the game and didn’t miss a beat in doing her best Willis Reed impression.
She netted six of the final eight points for the Lady Cyclones on their Senior Night, helping CCS close it out over the final minutes en route to a 38-25 victory.
For good measure, the final buzzer sounded with Langley soundly blocking a Crossroads shot.
“When I landed, it scared me more than anything,” Langley said. “Because I hurt this knee a long time ago and I was worried something would be wrong with it. But I was feeling fine afterwards. I’ll feel it in the morning, though!”
As one of five CCS (3-6) seniors playing their final regular-season home game, Langley led the way with 15 points as a harried CCS offense at times was stabilized by her touches in the paint.
“We had a bad habit of trying to rush every time we got the ball,” CCS head coach Kenneth Atkinson said. “And it cost us a lot of turnovers. But once they decided the second half — I told them to slow the ball down. We started to slow it down and move the ball like we’re supposed to. It looked a lot better.”
Once the ball was funneled inside, the perimeter became open for fellow seniors Kelsie Strange and Abby Lenhart.
“Alexis was so much bigger than what they were,” Atkinson said. “It was obvious that we needed to get it in to her anyway.”
The game was scheduled in lieu of the MCC tournament for both Community Christian and Crossroads. Both programs, including fellow league member Southside Christian, elected not to participate in the conference tournament and allowed Lee Christian and Sanford Grace Christian to contest it amongst themselves.
Therefore, Thursday’s game amounted to an extra nonconference game among conference opponents. Quarters were reduced to six minutes in length with CCS staring at a 5 p.m. deadline to vacate the Peace Church premises. With double overtime in the MCC middle school boys semifinal preceding, that objective was not achieved.
But once Langley departed the game for a brief spell with CCS leading by five, senior Logan Vaughn hit a runner to make it a 30-23 CCS lead. With success coming in inconsistent fashion for the Lady Cyclones this season, Langley proceeded to resume her own assaults on the rim to close it out. Her fourth-quarter runner gave CCS its biggest lead of 15 at 38-23.
“During the season, we didn’t have that many games,” Atkinson said. “And most of the games we had, (Langley) got in early foul trouble. And that took her out of the game a lot. But tonight, staying away from foul trouble and playing her game in the second half, she looked real good.”
The game closed with all five CCS seniors — Olivia Walker, Langley, Strange, Lenhart and Vaughn on the floor simultaneously by design. Due to medical exemptions, both Walker and Lenhart played without the use of a face covering.
Lenhart added five points for the Lady Cyclones, who will now wait to see if at least one more game in the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 1-A playoffs awaits them.
“It was really nice coming out here and getting to do exactly what I knew I could have done all season,” Langley said.
CROSSROADS CHR. (25)
Patterson 2, Wiard 2, Simmons 4, Macklin 6, Boyd 2, Owens 9.
CCS (38)
Walker 4, Lyndon 4, Strange 4, Lenhart 5, Vaughn 4, Ferguson 2, Langley 15.
Score by quarters:
Crossroads Chr. 2 10 8 5 — 25
CCS 8 9 7 14 — 38
