Northwest girls get past Greensboro Day
Northwest Guilford 44
Greensboro Day 26
By Keith Tolbert
Special to the News & Record
GREENSBORO —What does a team do when it loses four seniors that propelled it to a 58-2 record the previous two seasons? It starts its own legacy with new, talented players and an award-winning coach who knows how to put the pieces together. That’s exactly what Northwest Guilford’s girls basketball team intends to do this season.
The Vikings took another step in their rebuilding process when they defeated Greensboro Day 44-26 in the first round of the HAECO Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center. Northwest Guilford will play Page in the first semifinal at 2 p.m. today.
“We’ve been very blessed for the last two years, but we’ve still got some phenomenal talent on this team,” Northwest Guilford coach Darlene Joyner said. “The talent is still here, but coming off the seasons we just had, it takes time. The chemistry with the team is great. Ev-ery game, we’re continuing to get better and stronger with each other.”
Northwest (8-2) has one senior on the team, but Cayla King, Liz Kitley, Bria Gibbs and Lindsay Gaudlin say they are ready for the challenge of keeping the winning tradition going.
“We haven’t thought about it much,” King said. “In practice, everybody is working hard. We’re just getting used to dealing with what we have.”King led all scorers with 14 and Kitley had 11 points and eight rebounds in the Vikings’ win.
“We’re just trying to get acclimated to playing with just us and trying to find our chemistry so we can be as great as them while they were here,” Gibbs said. “We still have some bumps in the road, but we’re going to get there eventually.”
One of those early bumps was a loss to Northern Guilford. The Nighthawks are the No. 1 seed at the HAECO in the girl’s bracket, but Joyner and her players believe that they’ve improved a lot since that contest.
“The kids love playing in this arena,” Joyner said. “(Winning the HAECO) is one of their goals. They always set it as one of their goals. We just want to get back to that final game and be playing the best we can with an opportunity to win.”
Added Gibbs: “They don’t expect us to win. We’ve gotten a lot better since our loss to Northern. That was only our second game of the year. We’ve worked a lot of things out since then.”
In their win against Greensboro Day, the Vikings struggled against the Bengals’ zone that was de-signed to shut down both Kitley and Gibbs in the post. Northwest only made one 3-pointer in the first half but worked the ball around much better in the second half and made a couple of more 3-pointers to pull away.
“The first game for us here is always a little ugly,” Joyner said. “I encouraged them to continue to shoot. We’ve got a good balance of everything. We probably attack the basket more than most teams we play with our guards.”
Greensboro Day (6-10):Mahlon Brady 4-9 2-2 12; Gloria Smith 2-10 0-0 6; Ellie Baldwin 1-4 2-3 4; Madison Head 1-4 0-0 3; Maddy Murdock 0-1 1-2 1; Nathalie Blackwell 0-0 0-0 0; Lauren Whitley 0-2 0-0 0; Noel Harris 0-0 0-0 0; Chloe Brewington 0-5 0-0 0.
Totals 8-35 5-7 26.
Northwest Guilford (8-2): Cayla King 3-10 6-6 14; Elizabeth Kitley 5-9 1-3 11; Bria Gibbs 3-6 2-2 8; Lindsay Gauldin 2-10 2-4 7; Sandra Wommack 1-5 0-0 2; Thalia Carter 1-4 0-0 2; Jazymn Wilson 0-0 0-0 0; Haley Barker 0-1 0-0 0; Tiffani Thorpe 0-0 0-0 0; Megan Harkey 0-1 0-0 0.
Totals 15-46 11-15 44.
Greensboro Day 3 10 7 6—26
Northwest Guilford 13 8 11 12—44
3-point goals:Greensboro Day 5-19 (Mahlon Brady 2-5; Gloria Smith 2-6; Madison Head 1-2; Lauren Whitley 0-2; Chloe Brewington 0-3; Ellie Baldwin 0-1), Northwest Guilford 3-12 (Cayla King 2-6; Lindsay Gauldin 1-6).
Rebounds: Greensboro Day 28 (Mahlon Brady 6), Northwest Guilford 36 (Elizabeth Kitley 8).
Assists: Greensboro Day 5 (Maddy Murdock 2), Northwest Guilford 9 (Thalia Carter 4).
Total fouls:Greensboro Day 13, Northwest Guilford 13
