Women
Alexander Central 45
Freedom 35
The Lady Cougars marched into the Northwestern Conference Tournament championship game beating Freedom for the second time in less than a week. The price might have been great, however !
Down 5-4 after a frenetic first quarter, Alexander Central was up 19-13 at half. The host Lady Cougars ruled the backboards out-rebounding Freedom 45-35. Madeleine Jenkins led AC with 19 points. Kirstyn Herman had 8 points and a game-leading 10 rebounds. Sydney Hayes added 8 points. Freedom was paced by Zakiah King with 10. Neither team shot well from the field (Freedom 27 percent, ACHS 33 percent) but the Lady Cougars made 10 more free-throws (18 of 23) compared to the Patriots (8 of 13).
Chesney Stikeleather left the game in the first half with what might be a season-ending ankle injury. Stikeleather leads ACHS on the season averaging 14.5 points per game. Coach Jon Presnell said after the game when asked about her status “It sure don’t look good.”
The win pushes Alexander Central (21-3) to the tournament final on Friday. They’ll play Watauga.
Watauga 50
Ashe County 39
Freshman Kate Sears led Watauga with 26 points to send the regular season co-champions to 21-3. Ashe County falls to 16-9 and awaits the State Playoff parings.
Men
Alexander Central 64
Hibriten 40
The Cougars trailed only once in the opening minutes of the game and cruised to the Tournament Final on Friday.
Evan Presnell led AC with 18 points followed by Grayson Presnell with 13 and Avery Cook with 12. The stat-line of the night, ACHS went an eye-popping 27-29 from the free-throw line. Combined, Evan and Grayson Presnell were a perfect 20 of 20. Garrett Smargian led Hibriten wtith 19 points.
AC improves to 21-4 and will battle Freedom for the Championship Friday evening. Hibriten falls to 12-12.
Freedom 64
South Caldwell 62
The Patriots survived the upset bid and advance. The game was tied 19 times and there were 12 lead changes in the final game of the tournament semi-finals. The winning points came with 9 seconds remaining. Amore Connelly paced Freedom with 19 points. Drew Costello added 15 and Philly Harris 14. Trey Ramsey led the Spartans with 29 points.
Freedom (17-6) will play Alexander Central for the title Friday night. South Caldwell drops to 13-9.
Championship Games Friday evening in Taylorsville
Women
Alexander Central vrs Watauga…6:30
Men
Alexander Central vrs Freedom…8:30