Women’s Hoops:Frank Santore returns to UNCG and the Page girls hold court over Smith

Frank Santore the main-stay of the UNCG women’s basketball broadcasts returned to the microphone on Monday afternoon and the Lady Spartans were able to withstand a slight College of Charleston rally to win their 4th game in a row 70-61 over the visitors from South Carolina.  Frank does a great job on the UNCG radio network and the Spartans are lucky to have him back in the fold.  The Spartans are now 18-8/11-4 and have their sights set on the Southern Conference tournament title.  Jasmine Byrd had 23 points for UNCG and Brittany Frazier was still smokin’ with 10 points and 10 rebounds.  Santore is back and the Spartans are ready to get down to business.

The girl’s team from Walter T. Hines Page High School was host to the Smith Golden Eagles at the Mac Morris Gym in the first round of the Metro 4-A tournament on Monday night.  Page came in on a three-game losing streak and after winning the Little Four tournament back in December, the Pirates had been looking for answers since their 10 point loss to Grimsley a couple weeks ago.

Coach Debbie Jones watched on as her Pirates pulled out the victory over Smith and earned the right to play #1 Grimsley in the semifinals on Wednesday at High Point Central.  Page was led by Jasmine Gill and Nini Whitaker and even though Smith is probably finsihed for the year the Golden Eagles should be looking ahead to next season with much optimism.  The Golden Eagles JV girls team went 17-1(as reported by Jeff Carlton ace HS scribe for the www.news-record.com ) and with the players they have coming back the future looks bright for the young ladies over on Holden at High Point Road just down the street from the McDonalds(home of JT, Kenny, and Ronald).

The Page girls versus the WhirlieGirls on Wednesday and tonight it’s the Grimsley boys at Page(7pm) in round one of the boy’s Metro tourney.  I plan on being at this one and hope to see Marlan Smith Sr. and the other fans on hand for this crucial contest.  Grimsley and Page are still on the bubble for the sectionals and they both need this one tonight in a bad way.  We’ll see what the Tuesday night crowd looks like and who shows up to watch the start of the post-season.

Monday night we saw local girl’s AAU coach and Page JV mentor Ron Hampton in the house at Page.  Ron also coached at Aycock and for some of the other local clubs.  Derrick Johnson the un-retired baseball coach from Smith was on hand at the game and he told me baseball practice started Monday and that they have a scrimmage game with Carver this Saturday. 

Coach Johnson and I also got a chance to talk to the Smith girls coach and she told DJ that her players were suppossed to be at the Smith gym at 5:30 and they all showed late at 5:45.  She told them the first 5 players to walk through that gym door will start and they did.  The Page girls win and they move on and for Smith the season is over.  Tonight at Page, I will be looking for the Gr8ful Coach, the man who makes the Page Pirates click and the man that breaks down defenses like they are a cheap newspaper.     

4 thoughts on “Women’s Hoops:Frank Santore returns to UNCG and the Page girls hold court over Smith

  1. Jane W do not forget all championships have to go through the HPC girls, while you are at HPC be sure to check out all the girls state championship banners.

  2. Let me tell you something Mr. I’ll send you and your people back to the woods. The Whirlies own you like a rented Mule. JW, and the W stands for Whirlies and we are #1 Pal. Page and Northwest and then on to the next round, we might even beat North Carolina. What do you think about that Mr. Tar HEEL?

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