Robbinsville girls advance to 1st state-finals appearance in program history
Hickory – Behind explosive first and third quarters, the Lady Knights punched their ticket to its initial state finals appearance Thursday.
Robbinsville will play for a 1A championship next week, after stunning Andrews 53-38 in the Western Regionals Finals inside Lenoir-Rhyne University's Shuford Arena.
"This is just amazing," said Lady Knights head coach Brooklyn Lester. "Our season has not been an uphill (battle) the whole time; it's been down and up, down and up. These girls have shown so much perseverance, grit and unity to get to this point. That's what makes it so special to be sitting here."
Improbably, Robbinsville (No. 9 seed, 17-11) began the game on a 16-0 run that devastated the No. 6-seeded Wildcats (19-11). Zayleigh Chekelelee hit a trey to begin the regional final, with Zaelyn Phillips and Abby Wehr also producing offense for the Lady Knights during the segment. Andrews was ultimately scoreless in the stanza, but not for a lack of effort: the Wildcats were 0-for-9 from the field; 0-for-3 from outside; and 0-for-2 on free throws.
Proving that no advantage is safe in the postseason, the Wildcats clawed their way back into the mix during the second. A foul shot from Drea Cutshaw finally ended the scoring drought, before Knox Davis proved to be a savior for Andrews by hitting an interior basket and later nailing two from beyond the arc. Marley Blackwell also drained a long-range jumper, while Cutshaw and Juliet Holloway got in on the rally bid.
Robbinsville was visibly startled by the comeback and only mustered four points in response: a bucket from Zachlan Chekelelee and a pair of Phillips' free throws. The insurance was enough for the Knights to carry a 20-19 lead into the locker room.
"Knowing (that) the girls know me now, I'm a screamer. I tell them that I'm not going to sugarcoat it, because you don't win by sugarcoating things," Lester said. "Early in the season, these girls took the screaming, the critical feedback and soaked it in. We're to the point where I trust that my girls know what to do. They know what our standard is.
"Going into halftime, we weren't having to scream. We weren't having to go at them in a negative sense. When coaching girls, sometimes screaming can come off negatively. We analyzed what was going wrong, but started off halftime by talking about what's good about the team. It didn't need to be a screaming thing, because I trust that my girls know what they need to do. Their talent speaks for itself. They're beyond talented."
Lester's halftime motivation worked. Zayleigh Chekelelee spent much of the third quarter at the charity stripe, as Robbinsville was 10-of-20 from the line in the period alone. Wehr stepped into the limelight and proved to be a lethal scoring threat, dropping 11 of her team-high 17 points during the block. The quarter proved to be the clincher for Robbinsville, which outpaced Andrews 27-9 across the eight-minute segment and carried a 47-28 lead into the fourth.
In addition to Wehr's 17 points, the senior guard finished the game with seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block.
"Abby is a true leader, whether she is the point guard or not," said Lester. "Whatever she does affects the team. If her energy is up, everyone else's is up. When Zayleigh got face-guarded, Abby had to step up and handled the pressure well.
"This is really exciting," Wehr later said. "When I was a freshman, we made a run to the regionals and lost that game. I didn't remember it being that big of a deal, but now that I'm back here – with more experience – it's really surreal to be the first girls in Robbinsville history to make it to this point.
"I think if we had been in this position earlier in the season, there is no way we would've handled it. But every game we've been through has brought us the challenges that we needed to win this game."
Phillips recorded 12 points, six rebounds and two steals, while Zayleigh Chekelelee had 11 points, six rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks.
Also scoring for the Lady Knights was Bentley Riggins 8; Aaliyah Wolfe 3; and Zachlan Chekelelee 2.
"Bentley was able to step up tonight and get the boards," Lester said of Riggins' eight rebounds in the game. "We know we struggled a lot with that in the first half; second half, she came out hot. With Bentley specifically, we've worked with her on the finishes. Defensively, she stepped up and played big on their girls. She got down low, step-sliding. It was beautiful."
Cutshaw led Andrews with 12 points, nine rebounds and one steal. Davis posted 11 points, six rebounds, three steals and one block, while Holloway tallied eight points, seven rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block.
Others to score for the Lady Wildcats were Blackwell 6 and Kimber Vaught 1.
The win helped Robbinsville shirk a negative effect from the season, once and for all. Prior to Thursday, Andrews had defeated the Lady Knights three times in 2025-26 (including the divisional tournament); the Lady Wildcats carried a five-game winning streak over Robbinsville into the game, which dated back to a 55-41 Knights win Feb. 2, 2024.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat it: the first time we played Andrews (this season), we had one girl quit in the middle of the game, some (quit) after," Lester explained. "The second time we played them, we couldn't practice for 5-6 days because of snow. We played them immediately after that and forgot how to use a basketball. We learned from those games, but coming into that third game, we were ready.
"We used the film from that to prepare. We knew our girls played great man defense. The fourth quarter showed that, for sure. We didn't want our shooters to get clogged up top, either, so we worked on that for sure. Our girls did a great job of using pick-and-roll action to take it to the hole, spreading out the floor to open up the driving lane, too. We played our basketball and didn't have to do anything crazy."
SMC strong
The Knights and Wildcats were just two of the Smoky Mountain Conference programs that competed for a regional title at Lenoir-Rhyne. Cherokee (No. 1, 28-1) knocked off Bishop McGuinness (No. 2, 24-4), 58-48, for the girls 2A regional crown Saturday.
"Being a part of this 1A/2A conference has helped us grow," Riggins said. "Playing these schools that have 600 kids – when we have 300 – we're playing different levels of ability. Playing Cherokee? Yes, it's hard, but it's good practice."
Robbinsville faced Wilson Preparatory Academy (No. 2 Eastern seed, 25-3) in the 1A state championship game after Wednesday's press deadline, at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem. The Tigers knocked off Falls Lake Academy (No. 1, 19-3), 60-42 to win the Eastern Regional crown.
Wilson Preparatory defeated Robbinsville in December's 1A state football championship match-up; the memory is still fresh.
"We'll get it back," Wehr confidently said.
Follow The Graham Star on Facebook – as well as @KevinHensleyCNI or X – for live scoring updates from the game. The Star will also have an online recap available Wednesday evening, after the champion is determined.