North Duplin assistant girls coach Sandy McCarty watches the Rebels’ offense during first-half action against Union. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
The referee calls a jump ball after North Duplin’s Meghan Martin (with ball) battles for a rebound with a Union’s Zadariah Faison. Assisting Martin off the floor are teammates Addy Higginbotham (5) and Tateyawna Faison (12). (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin’s Reece Outlaw, left, takes the ball away from Union’s Rihanna Murphy during play Friday evening. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin head girls’ basketball coach John Oliver celebrates the program’s third consecutive Carolina 1A Conference tournament championship after a 20-point victory over Union. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
North Duplin players and coaches celebrate after a victory over Union. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
The North Duplin girls’ basketball team claimed their third consecutive Carolina 1A Conference tournament championship. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
CALYPSO — Addy Higginbotham handed the ball to the official, traded a high-five with a teammate and walked toward North Duplin head coach John Oliver.
“Coach, we need T-shirts that say ‘Back-To-Back-To-Back,” Higginbotham said.
Oliver will undoubtedly fulfill that request.
Higginbotham’s sterling 25-point performance helped the Rebels “three-peat” as the Carolina 1A Conference tournament champions with a 57-37 romp over top-seeded Union.
“We had to play hard and honestly, have fun, because when we play like that we’re so much better,” Higginbotham said. “Everyone came into the game with an open mind. We knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy win. We had to jump on them fast with our quickness and that’s what we did.”
Higginbotham spearheaded an early 8-0 run.
Yet, adversity reared its ugly head, too.
Officials called 10 fouls in the first 4 1/2 minutes, including three on ND senior guard Reece Outlaw. The ticky-tack calls rattled the Rebels, who stubbornly stuck to their defensive game plan.
Ball pressure kept Union on its heels.
Oliver’s team constantly harassed Spartan sharp-shooter Ariyona Spearman, who could never develop an offensive rhythm. The Queens University of Charlotte recruit scored 19 points, but misfired on shots well beyond the arc and had a difficult time finishing underneath the basket.
“I think the pressure in the first five or six minutes of the game got to them,” Oliver said. “We got into their head. We let them know they weren’t going to walk in here and win on our home court. I had to keep the encouraged, too, because of the foul calling…unreal.
“We didn’t get rattled.”
North Duplin led 12-8 after one quarter.
Turnovers allowed the Rebels to stretch a 13-point halftime margin to 21 barely two minutes into the third quarter. Union (18-5) never threatened from that point and fell to 1-10 against North Duplin in the teams’ last 11 meetings.
Outlaw and fellow senior Meghan Martin each courted a double-double. Outlaw provided 12 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Martin tallied 11 points and wiped the glass for seven rebounds.
Tateyawna Faison snatched 14 rebounds and blocked three shots. Sophomore guard Lilly Fulghum contributed eight points and eight rebounds.
North Duplin remained unbeaten (11-0) at home this season and stretched its home-court win streak to 19.
“We don’t losing at home and we couldn’t let Union beat us at our home place,” Fulghum said. “We’re bonding, actually starting to play as a team, passing the ball around and all of us scoring. When we have fun, we play better.”
Avenging a loss makes it sweeter, too.
