Rayken Mathis will drive into the basket in the second quarter of Starmount’s fourth round playoff game in Burnsville. Avaweb protects Mathis for mountain heritage. (Photo provider: Maya Carter | Asheville Citizen-Times)
Mountain Heritage started fast and ended powerfully last Tuesday night, beating Starmount 54-37 in the Western Semifinals of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 1A Women’s Basketball Playoffs in Burnsville.
But in the meantime, the second seeded Lady Cougars is No. 22 Lady Rams has postponed active efforts.
Down 32-13 in half-time, Starmount (13-12) got off to a quick start in the third quarter.
First, Morgan Pinnix and Amelia Vanhoy connected in a pair of buckets. After that, Pinix, who led the Lady Rams 11 points from the bench, hit a pair of free throws and reduced the deficit to 15.
Killian Warren closed the 8-2 run, starting the third quarter with a bank shot from the free throw line and reducing the deficit to 34-21 in the middle of the quarter.
“We ran and finished in 4th place with a 13-point deficit,” said Nicole Pardu, head coach of Starmount. “But the fight against a little foul trouble and the loss of your point guard (Reiken Mattis) and one of our main scorers didn’t help.”
Mattis, who has led Lady Rams by scoring many times this winter, was reduced to just two points on Tuesday. She also missed her second half after having a concussion when Junior hit the floor straight in the second half of the second quarter.
Starmount scored more points than the entire first half in the third quarter (14), reducing the Pinix and Fantasia Hagler basket deficit to just 11 (38-27).
The mountain heritage, which improved to 23-3 with the victory, showed a great reaction.
Ivy McGee — one of the two 12-point double-digit Lady Cougars — knocked down a three-pointer, and Vega Deyton collected steals and turned to a layup at the other end.
Keira Wilson returned the lead to a half-time advantage in the basket.
Mountain Heritage’s top scorers Ava Webb and Avee Silvers hit triples and jumpers, respectively, giving the team the greatest advantage of the game at 51-29.
Webb finished with the best 13 points in the game and connected to 3 out of 8 3 points of Lady Cougars in the game.
“Mountain Heritage was a very good and solid team. We were exchanging 3 for 2 but it’s hard to catch up like that,” says Pardue. “We didn’t make free throws and missed more layups to make up for the difference in the final score.”
After a big third quarter, Lady Rams achieved only one field goal (layup from Maggie Ray when it expired) in the fourth quarter.
Starmount didn’t lead the game, but was drawn 3-3 after a three-point play from Warren.
But behind three pointers from four different players (Webb, McGee, Silvers, Kilee Morrow), Mountain Heritage led 18-5 after a quarter. All field goals made by Lady Cougars in the opening quarter have crossed the arc.
In addition to Pinnix, Vanhoy added 10 points and Warren finished with 7 points.
Despite the end of the season, Pardu had no choice but to look back on the journey of this year’s team and, more importantly, her seniors.
Having just finished his third season as Lady Rams head coach, Pardue inherited the program that came from the 2018-19 non-winning campaign.
Starmount saw a taste of little success in the first season under Pardu, who saw the playoffs for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Six wins in the 2019-20 season were also the most in the program’s seven years.
Despite winning only three games in the shortened 2020-21 season, Lady Rams finished the season with consecutive victories and was able to take over that momentum this season.
“Three years ago, we started rebuilding the women’s program, but we’re still building it. My seniors have become Elite 8 from the 0-24 season in first grade,” said Pardue. Says. “What they have done in the last three years is just the beginning of this program. It’s the first time any of these girls have experienced a state playoff because of a year of restructuring and COVID restrictions — which sport. But I hope my feelings will spread to other sports.
“Once you taste it, I want to keep going. This team came out and fought and gave me everything they had,” Pardu added. “We are already looking forward to November. A good group of girls are back and a good group is preparing to enter high school. Starmount’s future looks bright.”
Note: Mountain Heritage fell to Bishop McGuinness on Saturday afternoon at AC Reynolds High School in Asheville in the 48-37 Western Finals.
Star mount 58 14 10 — 37
Mountain Heritage 1814 7 15 — 54
Starmount: Reiken Mathis 0 2-2 2; Amelia Van Hoi 2 4-11 8; Emily Brewer 00-0 0; Eden Hutchens 0 0-0 0; Killian Warren 31-3 7; Morgan Pinnix 3 5-8 11; Caroline Wood 02-2 2; Belastwart 00-0 0; Fantasia Hagler 10-1 2; Lisbeidy Sanchez 0 0-0 0; Hannah Sanchez 0 1-2 1; Ashlyn Abbott 00-0 0; Maggie Ray 12-2 4 Claire Vanhoy 0 0-00. Team total: 10 17-3137.
Mountain Heritage: Vega Dayton 3 1-3 7; Ava Webb 4 2-2 13; Ivy McGee 5 0-0 12; Avee Silvers 3 1-2 8; Keira Wilson 20-1 4; Kilee Morrow 1 0-0 3; Nevaeh Buchanan 0 0-0 0; Cloey Morrow 1 0-0 3; Kaydence Kooles 0 0-2 0; Lily Neil 0 2-2 2; Sarah Forbes 10-0 2; Kylie Tayor 0 0-20. Team total: 20 6-1 454.
Three pointers: Star mount: None. Mountain Heritage: Webb 3, McGee, K. Morrow, C.Morrow, Silvers.
