WINSTON SALEM PREP GIRLS FINISH STRONG IN 1A WEST REGIONAL WIN
The Winston Salem Prep girls overcame a hot start from cross-town opponent Atkins to advance to their second straight 1A Girls State Championship Game by a score of 56-44.
The Camels led the Phoenix 14-12 after the first stanza thanks in part to seven points and four rebounds from Saryna Carpenter. Winston Salem Prep turned things up a notch in the second quarter with several Camels on the bench in foul trouble.
Winston Salem Prep’s MyChala Wolfe opened and closed the second quarter with three point baskets. Sandwiched in between were personal runs of 5-0, and 6-0 from Christian Caesar, and Dominique Claytor, who’s banked in three point play gave the Phoenix their biggest lead of the half at 29-22. Atkins was only able to muster two fields goals in the second as Taylor Blakely’s pull-up jumper wrapped up first half scoring with Winston Salem Prep ahead 29-24.
Tyler Mercer would be the offense for Atkins in the second half with ten of their twenty points, and she helped pull the team within four points at 32-29 early in the third quarter. From there, it would be all Phoenix as Christian Caesar downed all five of her second half free throws, and sunk three runners in the lane, the final coming while drawing a foul with 2:02 left in the game to put Winston Salem Prep up 48-37.
Winston Salem Prep went 10-11 from the charity stripe after failing to hit one of their seven attempts in the first half. MyChala Wolfe was the only member of the team to not hit a second half free throw but she made up for it in a big way with a third quarter three to stave off an Atkins comeback attempt, and another triple with 5:41 to play to give the Phoenix a ten point lead.
Tyler Mercer led Atkins in scoring with 13 points on a trio of three pointers, Chandler Robinson finished second in scoring with 11 points (7-7 FT). Winston Salem Prep was led by Christina Caesar’s 16 point performance, and MyChala Wolfe’s 13 point afternoon which included four baskets from downtown.
With the win, the Phoenix will advance to Chapel Hill to take on Plymouth who defeated Roxboro Community 50-37 in Fayetteville on Saturday afternoon. For Winston Salem Prep, this will be their second consecutive 1A Girls State Championship appearance having won it all in 2015 by a score of 58-31 over Riverside-Martin.
Written by Evan Moesta
