Watauga opens

at S. Caldwell
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

This time around, Watauga wants to get off to a better start when it plays at South Caldwell in the opening round of the girls’ Northwestern 4-A Conference Tournament.

The Pioneers, winners of their final three games, play South Caldwell, a team they did not beat this year. Watauga lost the first game 65-59 at South, and fell 61-55 in the rematch at Lentz-Eggers Gym.

Watauga actually led the first game, but South Caldwell went on an 18-3 run to pull away from the Pioneers in a game played in December. South’s trio of scorers — Kayla Gross, Matison Hall and Allison Minter — did the damage, scoring 20, 15 and 15 points respectively.

The more recent game between the teams went a bit differently. South Caldwell shot out to a 15-0 lead and then held off a Watauga rally in the second half.

Since then, Watauga has gained some confidence despite big losses to McDowell and Freedom. Victories over A.C. Reynolds, East Burke and Alexander Central has helped the Pioneers finish 11-12 overall, 4-8 in the league.

“I think we’re pretty confident,” Pioneers coach Klay Anderson said. “I don’t mean to say that lightly, but we had a good week of practice since Tuesday. I know the girls really wanted another crack at the top three teams and South Caldwell happens to be one of them.”

Anderson has credited the Pioneers’ ability to cut down on turnovers and to convert foul shots as two reasons for their turnaround. He said the goal is to limit turnovers to single digits in each half, therefore keeping the overall total under 20 per game.

Watauga turned the ball over 20 times in its 58-45 win over A.C. Reynolds, but also forced 19 Rocket mistakes. The Pioneers had 17 turnovers in its 63-52 win over East Burke.

But keeping their turnover count to a minimum is just the start of what the Pioneers need to do to beat the Spartans. Keeping an eye on the South Caldwell guards is also important.

“They are very guard oriented,” Anderson said. “In the first game, they shot the ball well and in the second game, they shot a lot of free throws (15-of-27) because of driving to the basket and us fouling.”

Anderson also feels an advantage in how the NWC standings turned out. He had a feeling that South Caldwell would beat Alexander Central Friday and claim the No. 3 seed. Watauga, the No. 6 seed, did not play Friday and was been able to get in some extra practice time last week.

“We knew that week that there could by up to eight different scenarios,” Anderson said. “One was that South Caldwell would get the number three seed. We’ve been preparing and talking about them all week.”

Anderson also is anxious to see how the Pioneers will fare against the Spartans.

“To be very honest, I don’t think about much else,” he said. “The girls kind of laugh at me because they know I’ve been thinking about it. They are a special group of girls and I enjoy coaching them and I think they enjoy playing for us. I really believe we’ve got a few more games in us.”