NEWTON – Champions again, and it feels so good.
Championship glory has been restored once more at Newton-Conover High School as the Lady Red Devils’ varsity basketball team brought home the 2019-20 2A state title last week.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the actual state championship game between Newton-Conover and Farmville Central wasn’t played, but thanks to a ruling by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association in its annual meeting last Wednesday, all state championship competitors were named ‘co-champs.’
It was a good solution to a bad problem, and because of this, the Lady Red Devils (29-2, 14-0 South Fork 2A Conference) collected its second state basketball championship overall and its first in nearly 30 years – which took place in 1992 once more against Farmville Central.
Following losses to Hopewell (early in the season) and Hickory (which was in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Classic in December), the Lady Red Devils didn’t lose a single game in 2020.
At the forefront of this journey was the dominant force in senior Chyna Cornwell. Cornwell – a 6’3” interior machine and Rutgers University signee – had a stellar season, averaging 26.7 points, 16.7 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.6 blocks per game in 30 games played.
Due to her strong play, Cornwell was not only named as a 2A District 10 All-State first-team selection for the second consecutive season by the North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association (NCBCA), she was also awarded the NCBCA Women’s Player of the Year honors for the first time in her career.
This goes along with her South Fork 2A Conference Player of the Year awards the last two seasons, along with her All-Conference tournament selections.
There was a huge question on if she would be able to complete her final season on a high note, and thankfully she and her squad did just that with a title.
“Being named co-champs has been an honor to take as a title and more than an accomplishment of knowing that’s another state title (that) will be in favor of Newton-Conover High School,” said Cornwell. “This overall season has been a great ride, but we couldn’t have made it far and be named state champions (without) the grace of God. God is the reason why we made it far and achieved a goal that every athlete has dreamt of; I’m so proud of my team and coaching staff, this has been the best season ever, and I’ll never forget for as long as I live. God is so good.”
Not only did these ladies win a state championship, but they also were crowned its regular-season conference champs – going 14-0 overall for two-years straight – as well as conference tournament champs once again.
As Cornwell stated, it’s all about the collective and not the individual, and a couple of those pieces around her that aided in this feat were junior forward Grace Loftin and senior forward/guard Jahlea Peters.
Peters – a 2019-20 All-Catawba County selection and 2018-19 All-Conference player – averaged 7.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game this season in 29 games of action. Peters was instrumental in a few wins this season, in particular a clutch, game-winning free-throw at home on Dec. 10 against Bunker Hill.
“It means everything to be champions with these ladies I call my family,” said Peters. “We worked so hard to get here, and I’m glad that’s how I got to end off my senior year.”
In terms of the season, Peters declared it as the best one yet:
“At the beginning of the season, coach (White) had us write down our team goal, and that was to become an even better team, get better every day and to get that state championship title,” she said. “No one on our team had any doubt we weren’t going to do so. If you believe in yourself and your teammates, there is really nothing that you can’t do.
“I can say that because that’s how it happened for us. Despite us having two losses, we were able to learn from them and promise to not make the same mistakes again and we did just that; once we put our mind to something, we always followed through at the end. Separating work from play, we got it done. We are a real family, that includes our supporters; we couldn’t have done it without them.”
Furthermore, the seniors were a huge factor in the team’s success, but Loftin made her presence felt this season, especially in the 2A state playoffs. She came up with back-to-back clutch games against Shelby and East Burke, hitting big free-throws late.
This season, Loftin was named an All-Catawba County and 2019-20 All-Conference player, averaging 10.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, three assists and 1.3 steals per game. She also displayed her ability to space the floor as she shot a team-best 43 percent beyond the three-point line. Loftin also connected on 55 percent of her attempts from the charity stripe – third-best on the team behind Peters (70 percent) and freshman point guard Cassidy Geddes (59 percent).
In terms of Geddes, she had some shoes to fill at the one as she was replacing Tamiya Artis and was the only freshman on the team. She displayed grit for the Lady Red Devils on the defensive end, obtained a team-high 3.1 steal per game (94 total). Her strong play led her to be named an All-Conference player this year.
As for Loftin, she said the family-oriented mentality of the team is what got them through.
“Being a champion with my teammates is such a great feeling,” she said. “We’re like a family, and we’ve worked so hard to get to where we are now. We wanted it bad enough, and we got the result we wanted. I’m very thankful and blessed for my teammates and all that we have accomplished together.
“This was a great season. We all pushed each other and wanted to see each other succeed. Every person on the team played a key role in our success.”
Speaking of playing a key role for the Lady Red Devils, everyone played their part well including senior guards Aaliah Walton and Mackenzie Johnson.
Walton – a 2019-20 All-Conference player – was a great perimeter defender and floor spacer this season as she averaged 6.7 points, two rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals per game.
As for Johnson, she was exemplary of a player who knew her role this season. Although she didn’t get on the floor too much in her lone season with the team – only appearing in 17 games – Johnson made the most of her minutes. She only converted three shots for six points, but when she made a shot, her team backed her up in support.
Johnson said that this season was nothing short of amazing.
“The amount of heart on a team, you will not find anywhere else,” said Johnson. “At the beginning of the season, we sat down and talked about goals, with our ultimate goal being winning states; we set our hearts to it and our dreams became reality.”
Dreams did indeed become reality for the Lady Red Devils led by head coach Sylvia White – who won the team’s first-ever state title in 1992 as its coach, completing a full circle – along with assistants Colton Medlin, Jennifer Canrobert, Tasha Redmon and Tasha Herman.
The rest of the players on the team who are now state champs include sophomores Emma Fox, Lizzy Duncan, Lexi Martin, Monet Wilson and Hannah Watkins, along with juniors Mia Powell, Jaelyn Hayes and Nalece Duncan.
(Story to be published in the Tuesday, May 5 edition of the Observer News Enterprise.)
