Get your own Free Home PageA month ago, what happened this past Friday night at Carver might have seen inconceivable.
The Smith girls' basketball team was going through some very lean times. They had fallen hard and fast. After starting the season with only a single loss in the first two months of play, the Lady Eagles plunged into a fourth- place tie in the Piedmont Triad 3-A standings. The team wasn't playing particularly well and it seemed half the squad couldn't shake a nasty case of the flu.
But down the stretch all that changed. Smith finished the regular season 8-4 in the league, good for third place. Then the Lady Golden Eagles upset Glenn in the conference semifinal. Since Parkland also had pulled an upset, whipping top-seeded Western Guilford, BLS was in good position to defend its league tourney title.
That's exactly what it did. Christy Graham had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Tamisha Seagroves totaled 17 points and six assists as Smith stopped the Lady Mustangs 57-51. Nicole Patterson added 10 points and 17 boards. Jaime Simmons led Parkland with 31 points.
The Lady Eagles (21-5) earned the PTC's second seed in this week's sectionals. BLS plays Ragsdale tonight at 7:30.
The Smith boys' basketball team saw its season come to a close Tuesday night against Northeast Guilford in the first round of the state 3-A playoffs.
The Rams (14-12) built a 38-25 third-quarter lead and held on for a 60-53 win in the NCHSAA 3-A East 3 Sectional at Northeast's gym.
Smith was down 48-34 with 3:25 left in the game, but senior guard Jamie Totten would not let the Golden Eagles (14-12) go quietly into the night. Totten nailed back-to-back three-pointers to bring BLS within 48-40 with just under three minutes to play.
The Golden Eagles kept chiseling away at the lead and pared it to three points with 20 seconds left. The Rams then missed a pair of free throws. Suddenly, opportunity knocked.
All Smith needed was a rebound to have a chance to make a three and send the game into overtime.
However, the Eagles forgot to box out, and Northeast's Robey Logan rebounded and fed Justin Howell for a layup.
Game, set and match.
"We didn't box out," Smith coach Chris Spence said afterwards. 'We just didn't box out. Five coaches all yelling on the sideline to box out and we just stood there."
Darrell Smith led the Rams with 19 points. Smith had eight points in the final quarter for Northeast. Howell chipped in 16 and Rashad Williams added 12.
Totten, in his last prep game, led BLS with 17 points. Junior Chris Howard added 10. One bright spot for the future is sophomore JoJo McLaughlin. Up from the JV team, McLaughlin added five points.
The highlight of Smith's season was posting wins over both Grimsley and Page in the Little Four Tournament. That earned the Eagles third place.
Josh Cowan finished ninth in the NCHSAA 3-A championships last Saturday in Charlotte. Cowan won a pair of matches and was named honorable mention all-state.
Greensboro College is providing 10 tutors to Smith to help ninth-graders with their EOC tests. The Guilford County Schools are underwriting the program.
Because of light snow that fell Tuesday evening and this morning, school was postponed by two hours today.
The Smith Band Boosters Club will hold a fish fry Saturday in the cafeteria.
Smith will host a summer school for incoming freshmen next summer, according to principal Charles Monroe. He said that the criteria for being admitted to summer school have not been finalized.
Smith PTSA would like to invite community members as well as present and upcoming students to attend the Golden Eagle Extravaganza April 24. The event will be an information-sharing time. Those in attendance will receive information about the various clubs and organizations at Smith. Those interested in helping, please contact Benita Austin at 547-0741.
The Journalism Club will meet today at 3:30 p.m. in room 226.
Smith's AFJROTC took part in a drill meet Saturday at N.C. A&T. The ROTC ball will be held March 13.
WordSmith Daily is a publication of WordSmith Magazine. Please E-mail us at bullad@guilford.k12.nc.us or bls@geocities.com.
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