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In championship games, a team is lucky to have one or two players rise up to the moment and deliver a performance worthy of remembrance. In Saturday’s NCHSAA 2-A title game, East Davidson had the one player in Anna Freeman that everyone knew would come up big. Then there were the two sidekicks in fellow juniors Elizabeth Merritt and Alyssa Cutshaw, who were both solid bets to handle the bright lights of playing the Graham Red Devils, a team with only one loss, in storied Reynolds Coliseum on the campus of NC State University.
A season that started with plenty of questions surrounding departures more than arrivals suddenly came down to the players no one had any certainty of reliability. One by one they stepped up when it mattered most. It only seems fitting that the Lady Golden Eagles’ 62-59 victory over the Red Devils will be remembered more for all the little stones than their boulder of a rock.
“Two years ago, nobody expected us to do anything,” East coach Terry Allmon said. “Last year, the expectations were out of sight. This the year, the same thing. Once you win it feels so good.”
Moments define a game of this caliber, and this clash between two titans had plenty of them. The fact that Freeman would somehow find foul trouble was almost a given, meaning there was sure to be a time where East would have get it done without her — or at least hold on in her absence.
After staying out of trouble in the first quarter, picking up just one foul, it took Freeman a total of nine seconds into the second quarter to get her second call. Free throws put Graham up a point, but this is where the legend begins. As if saying to her team ‘relax, we’ll be fine’ senior Megan Byerly came back 19 seconds later and buried a 3-pointer, putting the Lady Eagles ahead, 16-14.
“Megan did a great job in the first half,” said Allmon. “I think she settled us down a little bit and helped us run our offense good.”
All was not so calm, however, as Freeman got nabbed for a third time with 6:39 remaining in the first half, forcing Allmon to find her a space on the bench. This time the Lady Devils took full advantage, scoring seven straight points for a 21-17 lead. A season was on the line now. The game teetered on the edge for an EDHS squad that had been in battles before.
Allmon sensed it and called for a timeout, hoping his girls would settle down and regain their composure — and maybe grab a rebound in the process. The tactic worked as Cutshaw drilled a three, temporarily squelching the fire as Kiki Allen countered with one of her own.
Now what? Who will step up now?
In comes sophomore Stacy Hicks, one of the few players who actually saw significant minutes behind last year’s guard tandem of Anna Dellapenta and Boomie Luck. Looking like a heavyweight fighter that was entering the final of 12 rounds, sporting a blackened left eye and freshly bloodied nose, Hicks proved she was far from knocked out. With her team down four, Hicks, who would later be named the West’s Most Outstanding Player, made three of four free throws in a span of 45 seconds, keeping the Lady Eagles close.
“She is tough as a pine knot,” Allmon said of Hicks. “She got smacked in the nose and had blood just a dripping. What do you say?”
As the half approached, East’s journey through the woods of lost-Freeman still had some steps left. Down five with under two minutes to go, Haley Grimsley, another sophomore guard known more for her shooting than her passing, dropped a perfect dime to Byerly on a back-cut that resulted in a layup and just a three-point hole. Merritt added two at the charity stripe, and when halftime finally arrived, the Lady Eagles had survived, trailing only 30-27.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Byerly. “I was really nervous going in at first, then I just started playing and we all started working together as a team. We’ve been bonding ever since summer. We’ve always been the type of team that is there for each other.”
No game is won in a half, but there was a definite sense that everyone else had given enough for EDHS to prevail. That sentiment held true in the third quarter as Freeman poured in 11 of the Lady Eagles 17 points, resulting in East leading 44-36 with 1:56 left in the frame.
Not so fast. Allmon elected to rest Freeman once a Hicks layup gave the Eagles that eight-point edge, feeling his team could hold down the fort. Allen felt otherwise, ripping down a pair of 3s in less than a minute, that evaporated any such margin.
“All season, we do stuff together outside of games,” Hicks said. “We always eat team breakfast together and always are together, best friends. Last year, we had a devastating loss and everyone decided to work their hardest to make sure it didn’t happen this year. It has just been a dream of everybody. We knew what we had to do to get there. We’ve all been down before but we had to keep our head on straight.”
Sounds like time for another chapter of heroics. While Candace Fox’s layin in the final 30 seconds of the third didn’t make a lot of headlines, the sophomore’s bucket allowed EDHS to lead entering the final eight minutes of its season.
No quarter would define the Eagle’s year like their last one. Graham exploded in the initial three minutes, outscoring East 8-0. Freeman got called for her fourth foul and the season was five minutes from being over, ending with another heart-breaking playoff defeat.
Not today, not in this game. Hicks comes out of a timeout and buries a 3, sending the Eagle crowd back into pandemonium. Freeman’s three points tied the score at 52, setting the stage for one last heroin to make her mark. Senior Dee Lanier, a player more known for what she does on the soccer field, made a lasting impression in her final basketball game. With 2:31 left on the clock, Lanier kept moving without the basketball and found herself alone under the hoop where Grimsley spotted an opening, knifing a pass the soccer star caught and converted, forging the Eagles forward.
“I was really nervous,” Lanier said. “I just took my time because I knew we needed it to tie the game. I would hate to go into soccer down, but now it’s perfect.”
A Cutshaw 3-pointer with a minute left gave EDHS a lead it would never surrender. Grimsley and Fox showed the poise of seniors at the foul line, making three of four that sealed the first ever girl’s basketball championship.
This title cake had so many different ingredients with none tasting better than the other. Take away one and the cake sinks. Mix them all together and out comes a perfect blend of youth and veterans, playing together for each other. Out of all the pre-season questions came one undeniable answer — the Lady Eagles are the best because when everything came to a head, this team played as one and won as one.
“Its been that way all year long,” said Allmon.
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext.. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.