Carolina Day girls clip state's top-ranked team
ASHEVILLE – Bragging rights are an unspoken thing when two basketball teams have 13 consecutive state championships between them.
The Carolina Day girls still got their message across Saturday.
Fordham recruits Ralene Kwiatkowski (24 points) and Halei Gillis (14) combined for 38 points and Kasey Kidwell scored 13 of her 16 in the final nine minutes of a 61-52 win over visiting Providence Day.
The Chargers (20-4), out of Charlotte, came to the Nash Athletic Center for a weekend nonconference game as seven-defending NCISAA 3-A champions. That is one year more than the run the Wildcats (20-1) are enjoying at the moment in NCISAA 2-A.
Providence Day is the No. 1 private-school team amongst all the classes in the latest state rankings from NCPreps.com, but never led again after the first couple minutes of Saturday's second quarter.
Kidwell’s second 3-pointer swished through just before the fourth quarter horn to give Carolina Day a 47-33 lead at the time. The Wildcats are currently ranked No. 5 by NCPreps.
“This win means the world to us,” said Kwiatkowski, a guard who has been dealing with shin splints lately.
“We’ve been working all season long for this game. We hadn’t beaten (Providence Day) in three years. A win like this is really going to help us with the playoffs coming up. It’s exciting for all of us.”
Carolina Day battled some jitters early on, falling behind 7-0. But the Wildcats overcame their nervousness, opening the second quarter with an 8-0 scoring run. Kwiatkowski accounted for 20 of her points in the second and third quarters. Gillis had all but two of her points in the first half and allowed Carolina Day to mostly control the glass against the Chargers and North Carolina recruit Janelle Bailey.
Bailey matched teammate Kennedy Boyd with 18 points.
“We relied on our defense to win this game,” Carolina Day coach Joe Carrington said.
“We have all the respect in the world for Providence Day and (coach Josh Springer). They play the game the right way. We’ve got a really challenging February ahead of us and it was good to play a game like this. It gets everyone’s attention.”
Carolina Day is running away with another Carolinas Athletic Association championship and returns to conference play Tuesday at home against Rabun Gap (Ga.). The Wildcats will be looking to improve on their 5-0 record in the CAA.
ASHEVILLE – Bragging rights are an unspoken thing when two basketball teams have 13 consecutive state championships between them.
The Carolina Day girls still got their message across Saturday.
Fordham recruits Ralene Kwiatkowski (24 points) and Halei Gillis (14) combined for 38 points and Kasey Kidwell scored 13 of her 16 in the final nine minutes of a 61-52 win over visiting Providence Day.
The Chargers (20-4), out of Charlotte, came to the Nash Athletic Center for a weekend nonconference game as seven-defending NCISAA 3-A champions. That is one year more than the run the Wildcats (20-1) are enjoying at the moment in NCISAA 2-A.
Providence Day is the No. 1 private-school team amongst all the classes in the latest state rankings from NCPreps.com, but never led again after the first couple minutes of Saturday's second quarter.
Kidwell’s second 3-pointer swished through just before the fourth quarter horn to give Carolina Day a 47-33 lead at the time. The Wildcats are currently ranked No. 5 by NCPreps.
“This win means the world to us,” said Kwiatkowski, a guard who has been dealing with shin splints lately.
“We’ve been working all season long for this game. We hadn’t beaten (Providence Day) in three years. A win like this is really going to help us with the playoffs coming up. It’s exciting for all of us.”
Carolina Day battled some jitters early on, falling behind 7-0. But the Wildcats overcame their nervousness, opening the second quarter with an 8-0 scoring run. Kwiatkowski accounted for 20 of her points in the second and third quarters. Gillis had all but two of her points in the first half and allowed Carolina Day to mostly control the glass against the Chargers and North Carolina recruit Janelle Bailey.
Bailey matched teammate Kennedy Boyd with 18 points.
“We relied on our defense to win this game,” Carolina Day coach Joe Carrington said.
“We have all the respect in the world for Providence Day and (coach Josh Springer). They play the game the right way. We’ve got a really challenging February ahead of us and it was good to play a game like this. It gets everyone’s attention.”
Carolina Day is running away with another Carolinas Athletic Association championship and returns to conference play Tuesday at home against Rabun Gap (Ga.). The Wildcats will be looking to improve on their 5-0 record in the CAA.
