Spencer – Robbinsville's varsity girls entered the 2021-22 season with a lot of fanfare.
Coming off a Smoky Mountain Conference title and a sectional final appearance last season, the Lady Knights also had the added advantage of losing just one starter – Gabby Hooper, to graduation – before reassembling this year.
The year did not go quite as planned, but Robbinsville finished second in the divisional standings and clinched another postseason berth in the process.
And after drubbing Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy in the first round on Feb. 22, aspirations were high as the Knights boarded the bus and made the trek to Spencer on Feb. 24 for their second-round showdown against the North Rowan Lady Cavaliers.
But in the blink of an eye, Robbinsville's season came to an end.
Despite a halftime advantage, the Lady Knights found themselves in foul trouble for most of the affair. Forced to re-think its defensive mindset in the fallout, Robbinsville could not stop North Rowan's attack – whether it be inside or out – and the Cavaliers outpaced the Knights 46-31 in the second half to prevail 78-64.
“We didn’t do the things we needed to do to win the ball game and that’s the risk you take when you don’t win your conference, knowing how the state is going to seed it,” Robbinsville head coach Lucas Ford said. “We were a top-five team all year in RPI and state rankings, but we ended up having to go on the road. I thought the schedule throughout the year had battle-tested us enough to prepare for that, but we ran into a collaboration of things.
“One thing about this group, though: they kept battling and scrapping. Effort is never a question with them.”
Robbinsville opened up a quick 7-2 lead in the first, but the contest quickly evolved into a back-and-forth battle. With their main offensive weapon Desta Trammell and forward Halee Anderson both sitting at three fouls each in the early stages of the second, Ford had to rely on an 11-point stanza from power forward Yeika Jimenez to keep the Lady Knights ahead at the break.
However, North Rowan (No. 4 seed, 20-9) exploded in the third, with the trio of Brittany Ellis, Bailee Goodlett and Hannah Wilkerson posting 21 points alone in the segment. By the latter stages of the game, Anderson, Jimenez and Trammell had fouled out and in their absence, Robbinsville (19-7) scored a scant six points down the stretch.
“It certainly started out the way we wanted it to. Our press was killing ‘em,” Ford said. “But we ran into foul trouble and our backs were against the wall, but our girls responded.
“I thought if we could get a stop on defense in the third quarter and score three or four points, we could stall ‘em. Instead, they came out and hit a 3 in their first possession, we turned the ball over and they go down and hit another 3. We go from being up one to being down five, in two possessions.”
Trammell extended her state-record run for most consecutive free throws to 59, which will carry over into next season. She finished the game with 18 points, two assists and one rebound.
Jimenez had 18 points of her own in her swan song – with three steals, one assist, one block and a rebound mixed in – while Kensley Phillips dropped 15 points, and recorded five rebounds and four steals. Also scoring was Anderson 6, Shuler 3, Delaney Brooms 2 and – in a fitting conclusion – senior Montana Buchanan scored a layup at the final buzzer.
Leading the scoreline for North Rowan was a 30-point night from Wilkerson, as well as 25 contributions by Goodlett.
The Lady Cavaliers were eliminated by the No. 5 seed Bishop McGuinness Lady Villains (23-6), which set up a fourth-round matchup at Murphy (No. 1 seed, 26-3) on Tuesday evening.
What lies ahead
Robbinsville's perimeter will be secure next year – with Phillips, Shuler and Trammell returning to the lineup – but the losses of Anderson, Buchanan and Jimenez to graduation will leave some inside spots up for grabs.
The Lady Knights will also be without their dubbed "6th man" – Dallas Garrett, who is also graduating this year.
“Words cannot explain how much I personally – and the program – will miss them,” Ford said. “They have been such great role models and teammates. You’d love to have them for another four years.
“I told the seniors after the game, ‘I hope there is something I said or something we did that may help them down the road; that they might be able to look back on and find a life lesson in those moments.’ There’s a bigger purpose out there for these kids than high school sports, and that’s what it’s all about.”