Middle School Conference Tournament AND State Tournament Competitions
Conference Champions for Varsity Girls and Middle School Boys Basketball. Varsity Girls Swimming places 3rd in state championship.
Middle School Girls Basketball
Vs. Cape Fear Christian Academy Monday - 10 February
The O’Neal School 20 Cape Fear 31
In the Lady Falcons only game of the week, they travelled to take on Cape Fear Christian Academy in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Despite a strong start, the Lady Falcons ultimately fell to Cape Fear Christian, 31-20. Ashanti Fox led the way for the Lady Falcons with 18 points scored, while Mia Millard also scored (2 points). This was certainly not the way the Lady Falcons wanted their season to end, but it did not take away from the fact that our Lady Falcons had a very successful season. The Lady Falcons finished their season with an impressive 12-4 record and enjoyed a 10 game winning streak to end the regular season. It was certainly a season to be very proud of.
Middle School Boys Basketball
The Middle School Boys Basketball team won the SEMSAC Championship on Monday, February 10th at the Hannah Center Gym against Berean Baptist with a score 47-44. More details to come.
Varsity Girls Basketball
Scores:
Friday, Feb 7, 2020 vs Salem Baptist—Tri-TAC Tournament Championship Game (Win 79-44)
Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 vs St. Thomas More (Win 54-42)
Last week, the Falcons came out and made a statement Friday night with a 79-44 victory over Salem Baptist to win the Tri-TAC Tournament Championship to match their Tri-TAC regular season championship. The victory closes out another undefeated conference season and seeing the Falcons go 40-0 in conference play dating back to 2017. Win loss records aside, the Falcons on court defensive pressure, rebounding and offensive execution made its own statement starting a running clock at the start of the fourth quarter. The Falcons jumped out to a 16-12 led in the first quarter, priming their defense and rebounding. In the second quarter, the Falcon offense exploding posting 31 points in the quarter off of 55% shooting from the field. Much of the offensive attack came behind the monster 40 point, 14 rebound, 5 steal night from Hadiya Balser. The mismatch nightmare, Balser posted up smaller guards throughout the evening showing off her finishing abilities around the rim. Leading the Falcon offense, sophomore Caelan McHarney dictated tempo with keen precision dishing out 10 assists with zero turnovers to go with her 4 points and 6 rebounds on the night. Beneficiaries of the McHarney assists were Kayla Jenkins (12 points) and Aaliyah Balser (13 points, 16 rebounds) who both joined Hadiya Balser in double digits on the evening. The victory in Friday night’s championship moves the Falcons to 23-2 overall and 12-0 in league play heading into the NCISAA 2A State Tournament. Sunday night the Falcons learned they had earned themselves a #1 seed in the State Tournament, home court advantage throughout the opening week of the tournament, and a bye on Tuesday night.
After a bye Tuesday night, the Falcons began their State Tournament journey with a second round home match-up with St. Thomas More. A scrappy team, St. Thomas More gave the Falcons all they could had in the first quarter never letting a Falcon offensive run create a lead of more than 12 points. Uncharacteristic turnovers and foul trouble plagued the Falcons in the opening quarters who headed into the halftime locker room with a 32-22 lead. Defensive energy from sophomore Caelan McHarney’s 10 steals to go with 6 assists and 3 points, and tremendous post play from sophomore Aaliyah Balser (17 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals) opened a 20 points lead in the third quarter. Joining the sophomore duo in scoring was senior Hadiya Balser, who even through double teams and facing guarding, scored 20 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and 4 steals on the night. In the end, the balanced Falcon attack overpowered a tenacious St. Thomas More team winning by a total of 54-42.
The victory moves the Falcons to 24-3 overall, and on to host the NCISAA 2A Quarterfinals this Saturday at 3pm against Friendship Christian.
Varsity Boys Basketball
The Falcons fought hard in the second round of the NCISAA State Championship! The boy's basketball team traveled up to face Salem Baptist Christian Academy for the fourth time during the season. Salem had beaten the Falcons handily the first three times, but O'Neal showed a lot of determination and drive in the contest, but just could not overcome the run Salem put together out of halftime. The final score of 65-39 was not indicative of how close the game was. Jalen Lindsey and TJ McGraw led the Falcons with 11 points each closely followed by Sam Turner's 10 points. Phillip Hancock and Kanye McKeithen also turned in strong performances. The season finished with 10 wins, a 3 seed in the TriTac Conference tournament, and a 2nd round exit from the NCISAA State Tournament. There is a lot to be excited for as we look to the off season and the future of our program. It is a process building a program and we are heading in the right direction!
Middle School & Varsity Swim
The O’Neal varsity boys and girls swim team had a great meet at the 2020 North Carolina Independent School Athletic Association (NCISAA) Championships this past Monday at the Triangle Aquatics Center in Greensboro.
The girls’ team placed an impressive 3rd and the boys’ team placed 9th, showing great improvement from 16th place the previous year.
The Lady Falcons had impressive swims from Senior Captain Natalie Williams. She
placed 2nd in the 200 free and 6th in the 50 free. Natalie lead off the state championship
winning the 200 freestyle relay along with Junior Molly Kuzma, Senior Captain Hayley Sager,
and 8th grader Alexis Coates. They also placed 2nd in the 200 medley relay. Alexis Coates won the state championship in the 100 backstroke and placed 3rd in the 200 IM. Molly Kuzma placed 5th in the 200 IM and the 100 fly. 7th grader Michaela Stone place 15th in the 100 backstroke and Senior Captain Hayley Sager placed 16th both scoring for the Falcons. The 400 free relay
placed 10th with 7th grader Holi Harp, 9th grader Emma Sager, 7th grader Michaela Stone,
and 7th grader Morgan Lewis. Emma Sager and Morgan Lewis also qualified individually.
The boys’ team showed great improvement this season by doubling the number of individual
event qualifiers. The 200 medley relay team consisted of 8th grader John Shepherd, Senior
Trygve O’Grady, Junior Tim Richardson and Sophomore Jace Brown finished 6th place. John
Shepherd placed 9th in the 200 free. Tim Richardson placed 7th in the 100 fly. Tim
Richardson placed 5th in the 100 breaststroke and Trygve O’Grady placed 9th. John Shepherd
placed 8th in the 100 backstroke. The 400 free relay team of Nathan Brianas, Jaden
Bozovich, Charlie Kuzma, and Andrew Lewis placed 13th. Xander Furs also qualified
individually.
The O'Neal School
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