By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

In a pivotal week that determined whether the Davie girls basketball team was going to remain in the upper tier of the Central Piedmont Conference or fade into a dark hole, there were moments when it looked dicey against both West Forsyth and East Forsyth last week.

But you just can’t keep coach Lindsey Adams’ girls down. Getting heroic shots from Emmie Burris and Bailey Aderhold, the War Eagles pulled out two thrillers and made a statement that they plan on remaining relevant in the CPC race.

On Jan. 5, Davie was 1-2 after a couple of regrettable showings. It entered this week having won four of five to take sole possession of third place. Reynolds and Mt. Tabor are 6-1 in the league, while Davie is 5-3.

“I think this is the highest we’ve been after the first round of conference,” the fourth-year coach said. “The boys have the me-over-we mindset, and I think we will be where our boys are in the next year or max two years. Because if they’re stepping up like this as freshmen and making big plays, it’s only going to keep growing from here.

“There’s no team that has gone through adversity like us after losing our senior point guard and leading scorer (Kenadi Gentry). I think everybody counted us out after we got murdered by Tabor and Reagan.”

Davie 53, WF 47

Malayka Rankin and Avarie Martin combined for 33 points and Burris delivered the shot of the season to date in a home win over archrival West Forsyth on Jan. 23. A packed-house crowd got to see Davie knock off an opponent that had won 17 of the previous 19 meetings.

The Titans surged to a 21-14 lead, but a 3-pointer by Burris ignited an 18-3 run for the War Eagles. Londyn McDowell scored off an offensive rebound before Martin scored eight points on three makes. Burris snatched a rebound and pushed the ball all the way to the other end before kicking it out to Aderhold, who nailed a 3 to give Davie its largest lead of the game, 32-24.

West would respond with seven unanswered, but Davie took off again, with Martin scoring on a drive and off a pass from Burris. When Rankin sank a triple, Davie was up 41-34.

“Their game plan was to take out our shooters (Aderhold and Madison Daugherty),” Adams said. “They were face-guarding both shooters all night. They wanted Malayka, Peyton (Spaugh) and Emmie to drive into their bigs. But with this team it’s somebody different every night. So even if they have a game plan to take somebody out, it is next man up.

“They were not worried about Avarie and she made them pay. I told my girls who were getting face-guarded that you cannot just stand there and do nothing. I understand it is tiring but they cannot keep face-guarding you for four quarters; they will be gassed. That’s when Bailey hit that 3 in the third quarter and Malayka stepped up and hit 3. Avarie hit two 3-pointers and they just expected her to drive. Bailey has been hot for us, and keeping her on the court was a decoy for everything else to open up.”

West, though, put together an 11-3 spurt by hitting four consecutive shots. A game that Davie was in control of was suddenly in doubt with the visitors ahead 45-44 with time running out.

That’s when Burris stole the spotlight. The freshman got the ball at the top of the key. She faced the goal and dribbled to her right. She didn’t find an opening there, so she crossed over to her left and pounded the ball onto the floor three times as she drove. She converted an up-and-under layup while getting fouled. She also made the free throw to provide a 47-45 lead at :40.

“I just took it to the rim and got the and-one,” the low-key Burris said. “It felt good – really good.”

The shot sent fans into a frenzy.

“I said: ‘Be patient. There’s 50 seconds left, we’re good. Have confidence, don’t force anything and take what they give you,’” Adams said. “I think they were more concerned with Malayka. They were still face-guarding Madison and Bailey, which left Emmie open for the drive. For a freshman to have the confidence to do that … I don’t know how she makes them. She does that all the time in practice. She goes left and does this little right-hand shot on the left side.”

Davie’s fullcourt trapping defense took care of the rest. After Davie got a defensive stop, Rankin was fouled and hit both free throws to make it 49-45. Davie trapped in the backcourt and Daugherty stole a pass. West (8-7, 3-4 CPC) fouled Rankin and again she made both to wrap it up.

“We were outmatched in the paint,” Adams said. “I knew they could beat us inside, so we had to press up. I scouted what their press-breakers were in multiple games, so we adjusted our press specifically for their press-breaker. When they called a timeout, I think they expected us to go to a diamond (press) because we had not run fullcourt man the entire time. So I changed to a fullcourt man and jump-trap, and that got us the last stop. The girls were able to adjust on the fly.”

Rankin (18 points, 5 rebounds) converted 9 of 10 foul shots. Martin (15 points) came through with her biggest scoring night in 14 games and blocked two shots. Aderhold went 4-4 at the line to score seven. Burris collected six points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals. McDowell had five points and four rebounds. Spaugh had one point, five rebounds and three assists. Vivian Vaughters had one point.

“Londyn was sitting the bench the last couple of games because we needed speed, but when her number was called tonight, she stepped up and got big stops and big rebounds,” Adams said.

Davie 60, EF 54

Another display of toughness allowed Davie to escape Kernersville with a hard-fought CPC win on Jan. 25.

It was 23-22 Davie before the War Eagles threatened to win in a blowout. Daugherty and Spaugh drained 3s. A trap in the backcourt led to a Rankin steal/layup. Spaugh grabbed an offensive rebound and fed Aderhold, who made a 3 to give the visitors a commanding 42-24 lead in the third quarter. Earlier in the game, Aderhold showed off her range by drilling one from NBA 3-point territory.

“I don’t ever see (Aderhold) shooting that deep in practice, but once she gets her confidence …,” Adams said. “Teams this second go-round are going to try to get our shooters off the 3-point line, so we’re going to have to extend our range if we want to be able to get our 3s off.”

After Davie went up by 18, East rallied to inject drama into the fourth. It made four 3s, went on a stunning 30-11 run and Davie found itself trailing 54-53.

Just when it looked like it might slip away, Aderhold restored order. She took a pass from Burris and hit a perfectly-timed 3 that put Davie in front 56-54. Davie was 2 for 16 from deep in the second half before Aderhold’s successful bomb.

“That’s definitely what we needed,” Adams said. “I was kind of scared when she shot it. I know Bailey had hit three (3s) already, but we had been missing a bunch before that. After she hit that 3, I called timeout and told them in the huddle: ‘OK, we don’t need any more 3s. I appreciate that one, we got up, but we do not have to keep shooting.’ Malayka had fouled out and I knew we would not be able to play defense much longer.”

Rankin fouled out with 1:54 remaining, but with Davie still up by two, East (5-11, 2-6) was called for a traveling violation at 1:42. Davie spread the floor and went to its delay game. After it had milked off considerable time, Spaugh made a terrific pass to Martin for an inside bucket that made it 58-54 at :37. East missed three shots on the next trip down, and Martin shut the door by grabbing the rebound at :17.

“In road games, you don’t get every call you want and you usually don’t shoot as good, but we fought it out on the road,” Adams said after Davie improved to 11-7 overall. “It doesn’t really matter (the margin) as long as you bring home the win.”

Aderhold (16 points, four 3s, 4-4 FTs, 3 steals) hit four-plus 3s for the fifth time. Rankin scored 13 and drew three charges. Martin had nine points and four rejections. Burris had six points, six boards, four assists and two steals. Spaugh had five points, seven boards and six assists. McDowell had five points. Daugherty had four points and two assists. Vaughters had two points, three boards and two steals.

It’s evident in the scoring averages that the War Eagles like playing for each other. Rankin is averagin 10 points a game, followed by Martin (9.8), Aderhold (9.3), Burris (7.9), Spaugh (7.6) and Daugherty (7.5).