Chapel Hill falls to Northern Guilford in second round

As the final seconds ticked off the clock in Tuesday night’s game, a somewhat familiar scene was playing out at Chapel Hill High’s Alumni Gymnasium: a raucous crowd filled the gym with noise, as a well-supported women’s basketball team cruised to the end of a playoff victory.

However, a couple things were off—the screaming fans were wearing an unfamiliar purple and black, and the team moving onto the third round would not be the Tigers.

Northern Guilford defeated Chapel Hill 64-49 in the second round of the NCHSAA 3A state playoffs Tuesday night, putting an abrupt end to the Tigers’ attempt at reaching four straight state title games.

From the opening tip, the Nighthawks (22-7) were intent on creating a matchup nightmare for Chapel Hill with sophomore center Elissa Cunane.

“When you have a 6-5 [player] with talent like we have, we try to pound down the post,” Northern Guilford coach Kim Furlough said.

Cutane, who led the Nighthawks in scoring with 17 points, had her team one step ahead for most of the first half.

But Chapel Hill (22-6), led by senior Autumn West, refused to go quietly.

West scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the first half, including an and-one bucket with 1.7 seconds remaining in the second quarter to give Chapel Hill a 37-36 halftime lead.

The one-point lead would also be Chapel Hill’s last.

The Nighthawks dominated the third quarter, outscoring the Tigers 15-6 in the period.

A crucial stretch came late in the period when, after a three by Chapel Hill’s Mariah Jacobs drew the Tigers within three at 43-40, Northern Guilford junior Sami Furlough drained back-to-back corner 3-pointers to push the visitor’s lead to nine points.

On the next Nighthawk possession, a runner by Kassie Robakiewicz pushed the lead to double digits, and the Tigers were never able to recover.

Having lost to Chapel Hill in the playoffs in 2012, 2013 and 2014, the victory was especially sweet for Furlough and her team.

“We finally got them,” Furlough said. “We’ve brought some good teams down here in the past, and we were finally able to bring one that could handle the pressure.”

While Chapel Hill compiled a record of 22-6 this season, it is easy to forget that the Tigers only returned one starter, West, from last year’s state finalist team.

NCHSAA Hall of Fame coach Sherry Norris feels that her Tigers “had an amazing run.”

“We have five girls (from last year’s team) playing at the next level,” Norris said. “I think that, for the first part of our season, the team had to learn their roles and develop team chemistry. But they have really played the last 13-14 ballgames.”

Northern Guilford will visit Nash Central (22-4) on Saturday night with a chance to move onto the state quarterfinals.

BOX SCORE:

Northern Guilford 64, Chapel Hill 49

Northern Guilford — Elissa Cunane 17, Sami Furlough 13, Kassie Robakiewicz 12, Mercedes Wampler 10, Kelly Lomax 9, Lasha Seaton 2

CHAPEL HILL — Autumn West 22, Alliyah Chaplin 9, Mariah Jacobs 7, Ti’Mia Chaplin 6, Anna Grace Kelley 3, Elise Ederle 2, Imani Edwards 2

Northern Guilford|17|19|15|13—64

CHAPEL HILL|15|22|6|6—49

3-Point goals— Northern Guilford 5 (Furlough 3, Robakiewicz 2), Chapel Hill 4 (Jacobs 2, A. Chaplin 1, Kelley 1).

Records—Northern Guilford (22-7), Chapel Hill (22-6)

#loss