Caressa King, the eventual tournament Most Valuable Player from Southwestern Randolph, goes up for a shot against Thomasville in the Davidson-Randolph Christmas Classic at Providence Grove. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
CLIMAX – Southwestern Randolph’s three-game sweep of girls’ basketball games in the Davidson-Randolph Christmas Classic was far from ordinary.
The Cougars knocked off previously undefeated Randleman 48-47 in Thursday night’s championship game.
Caressa King scored 19 points on the way to being named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
Randleman (12-1) lost a regular-season game for the first time since the abbreviated season in the 2020-21 school year. It was also the Tigers’ first loss to a Randolph County team since that season.
Southwestern Randolph avenged a 55-41 home loss from Dec. 16 in the Piedmont Athletic Conference. The teams are slated to meet again Jan. 27 at Randleman.
Maddie Strider and Jordin George were all-tournament picks for the Cougars (10-3).
Southwestern Randolph defeated Thomasville 66-9 in the first round. Next, the Cougars topped South Davidson 52-41 in the semifinals, when Maddie Small had 14 points and George posted 11 points.
Gracyn Hall of Randleman also made the all-tournament team.
Randleman received a first-round bye and then defeated North Davidson 56-49 in the semifinals with Elizabeth York scoring 16 points and Hall adding 15.
Asheboro’s girls went 1-2 with losses to West Davidson (by 51-48) and Providence Grove (66-46) sandwiched around a rout of Thomasville (by 56-5). Providence Grove lost to North Davidson by 59-49 before a bye and then the Asheboro game.
** At Ledford, host Ledford won the title by defeating Davie County 46-37 in the final.
Kennedy Jackson of Trinity was picked for the all-tournament team.
Lexington defeated Trinity 60-54 in the third-place game. Trinity began the tournament with a 43-31 victory against West Davidson as Autumn Gentry had 18 points. Then the Bulldogs lost 69-31 to Davie County.
Wheatmore won its last two games for fifth place after an opening 50-39 loss to Davie County. The Warriors stopped West Davidson 56-41 with Rian Perry registering 21 points and blasted East Davidson 54-31 with Bri Hill providing 16 points.
Uwharrie Charter Academy managed seventh place by decking West Davidson 57-35 behind Chloe Painter’s 15 points. Earlier, the Eagles lost to Lexington by 58-28 and to East Davison by 49-45 despite Ashara Spuill’s 21 points.
Boys’ basketball
At Climax, Thomasville won the tournament’s Providence Grove site championship by defeating Asheboro 72-56 in the final behind the play of tournament MVP Bryce McCoy.
It was Thomasville’s second victory against the Blue Comets in a 10-night span.
Jerquarius Stanback of Asheboro and James Ellis of Providence Grove were all-tournament selections.
Asheboro had a first-round bye and then defeated Providence Grove 80-62 behind 19 points from Stanback and 16 points apiece from Tanner Marsh and Camden Walker.
Providence Grove opened with a 55-43 victory against North Davidson as Ellis poured in 19 points. Ellis had 13 points in the Asheboro game. The Patriots recovered to capture third place with a 79-54 whipping of South Davidson.
Randleman fell 55-50 to South Davidson in its tournament opener and then knocked off Southwestern Randolph 58-52 in the consolation round. Greg Price had 19 points as Randleman won the fifth-place game by 62-49 against North Davidson.
Southwestern Randolph began with a 58-38 loss to Thomasville. The Cougars played just twice because of the seven-team bracket.
** At Ledford, Davie County defeated Ledford 50-46 in the title game.
Dominic Payne and Dylan Hodges of third-place Trinity were all-tournament choices.
Hodges had 20 points when Trinity won its first tournament game with a 75-37 whipping of West Davidson. The Bulldogs fell 64-38 to Davie County despite Hodges’ 19 points.
Trinity finished the tournament by handling Uwharrie Charter Academy 74-28 with Dominic Payne pumping in 31 points and Hodges notching 14 points.
UCA won 69-67 in the first round against Lexington, with Ashton Troutman pouring in 34 points. Troutman had 27 points in a 55-49 semifinal loss to Ledford.
Wheatmore lost 69-48 to Davie County and then defeated West Davidson 50-48 as Tristan Hammonds hit a winning 3-point shot. In the fifth-place game, the Warriors suffered a 60-57 defeat to Lexington despite Riley Strickland’s 22 points.
