The regular season has concluded and the final records are in. Many of our local girls played this year and their teams had some success. However there were also some teams that did not. Some of the local girls had wins against D2 or D3 opponents and the NCAA does not count those in the win column. Individual accolades are never more important than the overall team success. The age old question always become, Has the team improved since your arrival? Every player that is team oriented thinks in terms of team improvement and its success versus their own. They embrace their role and do their very best to help the team win games. Some may be at a program like UCONN that will win regardless of your presence or not. If the program that you are at is trending in the wrong direction, then one must decide if they have what it takes to help turn it around or does one take the low road and decide to transfer? Transferring is acceptable if a student athlete is in their fifth year or in Graduate school and have fulfilled the requirements academically by the NCAA.
1. Army: Finished 2nd (14-4 conference: 21-6 overall ) Cierra Jackson (Ragsdale) Team completes another solid season. Now ready to challenge for conference Tournament Championship and advance to NCAA or WNIT.
2. High Point: Finished 2nd (14-6 conference: 17-11 overall) Lindsay Puckett (Rockingham/Mars Hill), Kennedy Currie (Dudley) redshirted. Team routed Radford in final game to reach second place to Liberty. Could win Tourney or could be upset first or second round. Its been sort of a Hot and Cold season this year.
3. Radford : Finish 2nd tied with High Point ( 14-6 conference: 17-12 overall) Kierra McIvor (Dudley) Team had a great season and is capable of reaching the finals.Could also be knocked out in first or second round. Program trending in right direction. Coach should win Coach of the Year.
4. Winthrop: Finished 4th tied with Campbell ( 13 -7 conference: 16-12 overall ) Ronata Rogers (Greensboro Day) out for season. Team is capable of beating anyone in tournament.
5. Campbell: Finished 4th tied with Winthrop (13-7 conference: 16-11 overall ) Amanda Cofer (Northern Guilford), Jessica Pone (Southwest Guilford) and Makala Rouse (Dudley). Team made strides but also had two division two wins. Tourney advancement is going to be decide which team shows up.
6. North Carolina A& T: Finished 3rd: (12-4 conference: 17-10 overall) Christina Carter (Thomasville/VCU) and Kenya Hailey (Southeast Guilford). Team has won 8 straight games and peaking at right time. Team has two wins over D2 and D3 opponent which NCAA does not count in overall victories or losses. Team could win it all and advance to NCAA Tournament. The Hottest Team in North Carolina!
7. North Carolina: Finished 6th (10-6 conference: 23-7 overall ) Megan Buckland (Bishop Mcguines) rarely plays. Carolina always a threat to win tournament which begins in Greensboro this week. Team will be in NCAA Tournament after losing Deshields last year.
8. Stony Brook: Finished 3rd ( 10-6 conference: 17-12 overall) Miranda Jenkins (Eastern Guilford) Team has had two great seasons with different head coaches and is having their greatest success back to back in schools history. Program won only 4 games in 2011-12 season before having the greatest two year turn around of any school in Division One NCAA Basketball History.
9. Elon: Finished 4th ( 10-7 conference: 15 11 overall) Shayla Burnett ( Southern Alamance), Samantha Cofer (Northern Guilford), Autumn Carter (Rockingham) and Lenaira Ruffin (River Mill Academy). Team has done well and should make strides in tournament. Team had two wins against Division 2 opponents. Burnett will more than likely be named Conference Rookie of the year and provide the leadership that Coach Smith will need in the coming years.
10. North Carolina State: Finished 9th: (7-9 conference: 16-13 overall) Akela Maize (New Hope Academy)and Kaley Moser (Burlington Williams) neither played much. Team did upset Duke but can also be an early casualty in the tourney. If they get by the first game anything could happen but it will not be a championship.
11. North Carolina Asheville: Finished 8th: (7-13 conference: 7-21 overall ) Brittany Gwyn (High Point Central) Team improved this year and the first round exit could be Gwyn’s last collegiate game. Program is trending in right direction.
12. South Carolina Upstate : Finished 4th: (6-8 conference: 12-15 overall) Brittany Clency (Western Guilford) Team did not have the type of season they envisioned but could make noise in tournament. Program needs to stay in the upper three in conference play.
13. Coastal Carolina: Finished 9th: (6-14 conference: 12-17 overall) Cedrica Gibson (Oak Ridge Academy/St. John) Team got off to a good start before conference season started. Team should be much improved next season to at least reaching the 500 mark.
14.Harvard (Finished 5th : (5-7 conference : 12-14 overall) Cameron Nieters (Bishop Mc Guinness) did not play much. Team finished strong to almost move to the 500 mark.
15. North Carolina Central : Finished 9th; ( 5-9 conference: 7-18 overall) Imani Atkinson (Greensboro Day) saw limited action. Team will not go far in tourney but program is making strides and will be improved again next season.
16. Vanderbilt: Finished 11th: (5-11 conference: 13-15 overall) Paris Kea (Page) came in with highly ranked recruiting class but team failed to live up to expectations. Vandy had its worst school record in over a decade. Team will not win the tournament and there could be some major shake ups in the off season.
17. Auburn: Finished 13th: (3-13 conference: 12-17 overall) Jazmine and Jessica Jones ( West Forsyth) found that winning in college is a lot different than high school. Team did make a few strides in the past week.
18. Western Carolina : Finished 6th: ( 3-11 conference:8-18 overall ) Julia Brown (Bishop Mcguines) rarely played and found that winning championships is not going to be easy like it was in high school.
19. Wake Forest: Finished 13th: (2-14 conference: 11-19 overall) Melissa Calicutt (Mt. Tabor) has found senior year a rough go. Wake has challenged at times but must pull off a miracle in the tournament to extend the season
20. Binghamton: Finished 8th : (2-14 conference: 4-25 overall) Imani Watkins (High Point Andrews) will be in contention for Rookie Of The Year but would trade that for wins any day. Program will be much better next season.
21. UNCG: Finished 8th: ( 1-13: 5-23 overall) Team had two local players ( Breonna Patterson and Eboni Goings- Dudley) in previous years but the results were pretty much the same.
Its nice to see that we have so many girls at the collegiate level playing college basketball.
Can I get an AGGIE PRIDE! GO AGGIES AND KEEP ON ROLLING!
GO AGGIES AND KEEP UP THE HOT STREAK!