CK girls repeat as D-2 regional champs
For a second straight year, the Central Kings Gators are Western Region D-2 girls’ basketball champions.
The Gators claimed the regional banner by holding off Avon View 63-53 in the regional final Feb. 21 in Cambridge.
Central Kings led by three points, 29-26, at halftime, but increased the lead to 45-30 in the third quarter before Avon View mounted a comeback.
The Avalanche closed to within 11 at 47-36 at the end of the third quarter, then narrowed the deficit to four in the fourth quarter, before the Gators sealed the victory.
Serena Dolan led all scorers with 32 points for Central Kings. Katie Beaver added eight points and Emma Hachey seven. Emma Hachey left the game with a leg injury in the third quarter, but was able to return and finish the game.
Jessie Miller had 23 points View.
CK head coach Ben Hachey said his players had battled adversity in winning their second straight regional banner. Three players, including Dolan, were ill, and Emma Hachey, already playing on a sore ankle, injured her calf in the third quarter.
“Our players didn’t give up at any point, and didn’t panic, which is somewhat unusual for girls’ high school basketball at this level,” he said. “They maintained their composure in front of a big crowd, and are well positioned for provincials in two weeks’ time.”
The Gators got solid performances in less than ideal circumstances from “our big two,” Dolan and Emma Hachey, “but other players stepped up their play as well. The victory was a true team effort.”
Prior to last season, he said, the CK senior girls’ program had never won a regional banner. “Now we’ve won two in a row,” Hachey added.
En route to the final
for Avon
In the third-place game, played just before the final, West Kings topped Yarmouth 6756, with Claudia Fulton finishing with 26 for West Kings and Julia Phillips leading Yarmouth with 15 points.
In semifinal action earlier in the day, Avon View topped Yarmouth 81- 65. Jessie Miller led the Avalanche with 27 points, while Sam MacDougall and Sophie Atkinson led Yarmouth with 16 points each.
In the second semifinal, Central Kings topped West Kings 55-44. The Gators led 35-9 at halftime, having held the Wolverines to just one point in the second quarter.
West Kings regrouped after the intermission, winning the third quarter 21-13 and the fourth 14-7, but the first half deficit was too much to overcome.
Emma Hachey had 15, Serena Dolan 14 and Katie Beaver 10 for the Gators. Sam Nichols finished with 15 and Emma Picard 11 for West Kings.
In elimination play Feb. 20, West Kings defeated NKEC 61-52. Emma Picard had 22 points for West Kings, and Rachel Palmer added 10 points and was chosen her team’s player of the game. Emily Payne finished with 22 and Meaghan Nicholson 18 for the Titans.
In the second elimination game, Yarmouth topped Park View 71-63 in overtime to advance to play Avon View. Sam MacDougall had 19 and Sophie Atkinson 16 for Yarmouth, while Sydney Goode had 20 and Abby Forsythe 13 for Park View.
Both Central Kings and Avon View advance directly to provincials March 6 in Amherst. West Kings, winner of the thirdplace game, also advances directly, while Yarmouth will host a provincial qualifier Feb. 27-28.
Coach Hachey anticipated Central Kings would enter provincials seeded second, with Avon View seeded fourth.
Avon View, he said, “is a good team, the product of a good basketball culture in West Hants. Some of these girls have been playing together since junior mini. We knew it would be a challenge, and would require a full four-quarter game, but we came to play.”