The Tigers’ strategy is an open book

There are not a lot of secrets to how Chapel Hill’s girls’ basketball team has become so dominant in the Carolina-6 this year. Among NCHSAA schools in the greater Triangle Area, Chapel Hill ranks No. 1 in both scoring offense (68.8 points a game) and defense (28.8).

The Tigers pass well (with 17 assists a game) and also rebound well.

Against No. 10-ranked Cardinal Gibbons, the runner-up in the Carolina-6 this season, CHHS held a 50-39 edge in rebounds.

JVs cap another perfect season

As good as Chapel Hill’s varsities have been this basketball season -- both of them finishing first in the Carolina-6 Conference -- the girls JVs have been even better. The CHHS JVs defeated Cardinal Gibbons 49-32 last week to finish their year at 20-0.

That’s the second straight year the JVs went undefeated. Last year’s team also went 20-0.

“Those sophomore have never lost a high school game,” JV coach Sandy Rasnake notes.

The JV Tigers are: Valeria Campos-Diaz, Louisa Fine, Helen Gaynes, Taylor Headen, Emily Himmelberg, Makaylah Hunter-Toney, Cisem Karaca, Anna Grace Kelley, Elizabeth McBurney, Morgan Paul, Pao Somton and Joy Stouffer.

Gaynes (19.4 points per game) and Headen (12.7), both sophomores, led the team in scoring.

East Chapel Hill

Not the best of times

Things did not go well for East Chapel Hill’s basketball team this year. The Wildcats went 0-12 in PAC-6 play, the first time ever that the school failed to win a conference basketball game.

Injuries have been a problem for the Wildcats, who rarely we able to start the same lineup two weeks in a row. When 6-6 Lawyer Dallas went out the lineup, that left 6-4 Jake Hilkey — a soccer star in his first year on the varsity basketball team – as East’s tallest player.

How close did the Wildcats get this year? East led in the second half in many of those losses, only to see them slip away late – like the time they saw a five-point halftime lead over Jordan turn into a 68-64 loss.

And Jordan went undefeated in the PAC-6 this year, at 19-4 overall, 12-0 in conference games.

If East is to return to the NCHSAA playoffs, it must win the conference tournament this week. Both of the PAC-6 finals will be Friday at Northern Durham – the girls at 6 p.m. and boys at 8 p.m.

Playing at the next level

Life after high school

James Manor and Denzel Robinson have been enjoying their time with the University of North Carolina basketball team. Both of the former Chapel Hill standouts have scored in games for the Carolina varsity – thought to be the first time two CHHS alums have played together on a Tar Heel basketball team.

Other recent CHHS alums playing in college include: Josh Morrison (Class of 2009) at N.C. Wesleyan, Kyle Grant (2011) on the UNC junior varsity team, and Denzel Ingram (Class of 2012), who’s starting at UNC Charlotte. Ingram had nine points, two assists and a steal in Charlotte’s 71-67 upset win last week at No. 11 Butler.

Scenes

Former East Chapel Hill head football coach Bill Renner smiling as he watches his 2012 players Jackson Boyer, Will McEntee, Kieran Sweeny and Will Buckley sign their national letters of intent. … Carrboro’s Katie Minogue beaming as she puts on an App State cap during her signing ceremony on “National Signing Day” at the high school. ... Chapel Hill assistant basketball coach John French at mid-court on a Friday night, keeping the scorebook for a girls’ game with his daughter Madison on his lap. ... John Austin manning the PA for East Chapel Hill’s basketball team. ... Staffers from Merritt’s Grill making coffee outside the varsity on a cold Sunday morning. ... Boy Scouts from Troop 39, the oldest troop continuously operating in the BSA, holding the doors open for churchgoers at University United Methodist. … Meanwhile, former CHHS varsity golfer Jesse Basnight helps assist people arriving by car in front of University Presbyterian.

W.E. Warnock