Randleman’s Gracyn Hall shoots the ball against Uwharrie Charter Academy during the PAC Tournament girls’ championship game Friday night at Randleman.
RANDLEMAN – Randleman’s girls’ basketball team made it through Piedmont Athletic Conference play unscathed, capped by the league tournament championship. The Tigers headed off to the state playoffs with a 22-0 record.
Last week turned out to be rewarding for Randleman, which won twice on its homecourt in the tournament to back up its regular-season championship.
“The bull’s-eye has been on our back all year,” Randleman coach Brandon Varner said. “The pressure has been building.”
First there was a 66-51 victory against fourth-seeded Wheatmore. Then came Friday night’s 56-43 triumph against third-seeded Uwharrie Charter Academy in the title game.
A strong first half in the title game gave the Tigers a working margin. They led 33-15 at the break.
“In the first half, we hit a lot of shots,” Varner said. “UCA continued to battle. They’re going to be a tough out in the playoffs.”
Gracyn Hall scored 21 points in the semifinal and 18 in the final for Randleman. Elizabeth York posted 19 points and 13 points, respectively, while Audra Petty had 14 points and 17 points.
UCA (17-8) played three games last week, topping visiting Providence Grove 40-25 in the quarterfinals and winning 43-37 at Southwestern Randolph in the semifinals.
There were rough patches on offense in the final for the Eagles.
“For whatever reason, I haven’t been able to identify why, we’re a slow-starting team,” UCA coach Austin Davis said. “We got the looks that we wanted, couldn’t get them to fall.”
Ashara Spruill was the top scorer for UCA in each game, scoring 17, 16 and 13 points in the three games. Kristen Jensen added 13 points in the semifinal and seven in the final.
Wheatmore’s Kara Comer notched 18 points in the semifinal vs. Randleman.
