North Stanly hosted the second annual Comets Christmas Classic this week, reaching the finals of the tournament against the Corvian Community Cardinals.

The Cardinals’ roster includes players such as freshman R.J Moore Jr., the 6-foot-4 son of 1996 UConn national champion Ricky Moore, and Malachi McCutcheon, the 6-foot-5 junior and son of former Pfeiffer standout and current Catawba women’s basketball head coach Terence McCutcheon.

Corvian built a double-digit lead in the second quarter and went on to a 71-55 victory.

North Stanly (10-3) was led by All-Tournament selection Jack Williamson who scored 21 points. Jalen Walker added 17 and was named All-Tournament along with Gavin Helms.

Corvian (6-2) was led by All-Tournament selection Jack Hudson with 23 points, while McCutcheon added 18. Doug Quarles added 14 points and Moore scored 10.

The Cardinals led 12-4 midway through the first and by six after one quarter, 14-8, then an 11-2 run gave Corvian a double-digit lead. At halftime, the Cardinals led 35-18.

“There’s nothing we can practice to simulate how big they are,” North head coach George Walker said. “We missed two layups right off the bat; that could have put us up and build some momentum. They have so many rim protectors.”

Walker said his team played differently in Saturday’s loss, adding his message to the team was “we’re not going to quit.”

The Comets will take on Union Academy on Jan. 5 to open Yadkin Valley Conference play in a rematch from the semifinals of the holiday tournament.

Friday’s Result

North Stanly 70, Union Academy 67

Friday’s game between the two conference foes came down to the wire, but the Comets earned a win in what Walker called a “very intense physical battle.”

Jack Williamson had a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Gavin Helms just missed a double-double with eight points and a team-high 13 boards.

Maddox Lowder added 12 points for North while Jacob Smith and Jalen Walker scored 11 each.

Union Academy led after one quarter, 20-16, but the Comets roared back and outscored their opponents 26-9 in the second period to lead at halftime 42-29.

In the second half, the Cardinals outscored North 17-10 in the third and 21-18 in the fourth. Union got as close as three points with two minutes left, but North was able to hit free throws down the stretch to keep the game just out of reach.

Walker said of Friday’s win: “for our kids’ resiliency was something to build on.”

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South Stanly’s men’s basketball program has not seen a start to this season like this in a long time.

The Bulls ran off nine wins in a row until suffering the team’s first loss to Corvian Community in the semifinals Friday at the Second Annual Comet Christmas Classic.

South bounced back Saturday against a current Yadkin Valley Conference opponent and claimed third place in the tourney with a 62-42 win over Union Academy.

Gavyn Miller led South (10-1) with 22 points while Cohen Whitley added 14 and Drew Gaddy 12.

Quon Harper was top scorer for Union Academy (2-10) with 11.

Leading 13-9 after one quarter, the Bulls extended the lead just before halftime. Three-pointers in the final minute by Gaddy and Whitley helped build a nine-point advantage at halftime, 32-23.

The third quarter was all South. The Bulls led by as much as 19 after a Gaddy layup and led 49-32 after the third.

South head coach Sean Whitley said the start of the season says a lot about the team’s experience.

“We’ve had essentially the same lineup for three years now,”  Whitley said. “These kids have had to grow up, undersized as underclassmen playing varsity basketball. I think this year we’re a varsity basketball team. They’ve matured; they trust each other.”

South has one final non-conference match, a home game Jan. 3 with Southwestern Randolph, before opening conference play two days later at Albemarle.

Whitley said he likes his team’s chances during conference play.

“The conference is always athletic, always physical. Union Academy is a lot better than their record.”

He said Albemarle and Mount Pleasant are both physical teams, while North Stanly’s first group “is as good as anybody. I think (the conference) is going to be a battle.”

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The Albemarle women’s basketball team was the only 1A squad in the eight-team Mount Pleasant Holiday Classic.

After wins against 3A Parkwood and 4A Mooresville in consecutive nights, the Bulldogs took the floor Friday in the finals against the 4A Sun Valley Spartans.

The Spartans twice erased leads in the first half Albemarle built, but a huge third-quarter run proved too much as the Bulldogs won the tournament championship 73-60.

Tournament MVP Amari Baldwin helped lead a third-quarter run for Albemarle (9-1) which broke open an even game to that point. Baldwin finished with 29 points, 20 coming in the second half.

With the game tied 35-35, Baldwin’s old-fashioned three-point play spurred an 18-0 run. The junior guard scored 15 during the run as the Bulldogs built a double-digit lead.

“Our intensity just changed because we were just kind of slow coming out of halftime,” Baldwin said. “We had to be on our toes more and look for open shots…we all knew we had to come out stronger in the third quarter.”

Baldwin entered the tournament averaging 26.5 points per game and scored 28 in each of the previous two wins. She has 1,203 career points, third all-time among Albemarle women basketball players.

Sun Valley (7-6) made seven shots from the field in the first half but hit 13-of-16 free throws to keep the game close. The Spartans were 20-of-24 at the line for the game.

Albemarle forwards Jasmine Brown and Bianca Robinson scored 15 of the Bulldogs’ 30 points in the first half and gave the team a 30-29 lead at the break. Robinson finished the game with 18 points and Brown added 16.

Baldwin talked about being on a 1A team taking on teams from schools with larger enrollments.

“(Winning the tournament) shows that we can compete with anybody, and the size of your school really doesn’t matter. It’s the talent and how we play as a team,” Baldwin said.

Albemarle head coach Eric Davis said his team is deep this year, with all 10 players getting significant playing time.

“When you’re dealing with that kind of depth (as an opposing coach), it’s hard to deal with consistently,” Davis said.

He noted the four games where the game was close, Albemarle had four different lineups.

“We’re just so versatile and deep,” Davis said.

Regarding Baldwin, the coach said she “plays with a lot of heart and a lot of discipline. She’s worked hard over the summer; we put the team in general in a lot of different situations over the summer.”

Davis noted Baldwin also averages around nine to 10 steals and five assists per game.

Albemarle’s coach also credited the play of Brown and Robinson, saying Sun Valley was focused on Baldwin in the first half.

“Bianca and Jasmine were doing a good job of sealing (the post); we just have go to do a better job of getting it to them,” Davis said.

Albemarle opens Yadkin Valley Conference play next week at home versus South Stanly.

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Identical twins, an injured owl and a magic tree weave an imaginative tale written by a young Stanly author.

Kylah Everette, the 13-year-old daughter of Jess and Robert Everette of Albemarle, recently released a book five years in the making entitled “The Purple Willow Tree.”

Kylah Everette

Everette, who is homeschooled by her parents, said the book idea started one day while outside playing. Two sticks, she added, turned into a game which became the basis for the story.

“I ran inside, literally yelling, ‘Don’t forget! Don’t forget! Don’t forget!’ ” Kylah said.

She started grabbing paper and a stapler, put together a makeshift book and started the story.

Kylah said she moved the story to a set of notebooks and was writing the story out by hand before her mother showed her Google Docs.

She said her influences for the story included “Harry Potter,” the “Magic School Bus” television series and the “Boxcar Children” mystery series.

An enormous influence to the story, she added, was the Eragon series, also called the Inheritance Cycle, which was written by Christopher Paolini when he was a 15-year-old homeschooler.

In the story, 13-year-old Jack Darby, his twin sister Olivia, and a magical book lead to a new school and a mythical adventure. The pair live in a ramshackle shack with their mother and father.

Many of the characters were based on Kylah and her family, she said, adding her mother and cousin, Emily, “helped me write it out and give me ideas.” Even the tree was based on a cherry plum tree on which she used to climb.

Kylah’s mother said the book is like the “Magic Tree” book series, adding the orientation “gives something more for smaller kids to read.”

“She’s always had stories in her; she loves to tell stories through play and other things like that. Allowing her to get out big words that she couldn’t yet spell just to get it out of her head and onto paper was tough for me to watch her spell it incorrectly, and then I would add it to her spelling list,” Jess said.

Her mother integrated Kylah’s book into her English studies as a homeschooled child as opposed to doing book reports.

Kylah’s mother said finding creative ways “to feed her passion for writing” was important.

“I’m teaching her about rhetoric and influence, how to develop a character,” Jess said.

Kylah’s mother said she is taking a break from writing at the moment but has a sequel planned, noting her daughter spends 15 hours a week on the media team for her church, The Encounter Charlotte.

“She has been empowered by the ability to literally do it herself,” Jess said about publishing the book on Amazon. “She’s had my help, and things like that, but she Googled this herself, so she feels empowered. She knows that if she decides to be a stay at home mom, she could still have a career path she could do at home.”

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The start to the 2023-24 season for the South Stanly men’s basketball team ranks among the most successful in the program’s history.

Entering the North Stanly men’s basketball holiday tournament this week, the Bulls were undefeated and ranked second in the MaxPreps 1A Western Region.

The undefeated start is the best since South opened the 2008-09 season with six wins in a row. South has three players averaging double figures in points per game this season: Cohen Whitley (19 ppg), Gavyn Miller (14 ppg) and Drew Gaddy (11 ppg).

South Stanly took on the Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy Eagles from Huntersville, and easily cruised to an 87-25 win.

Whitley had a huge first half for the Bulls (9-0) scoring 24 of his game-high 30 points in the first 16 minutes. He hit four three-pointers in the first half and was 4-of-4 at the free-throw line.

Miller  and Carter Callicutt both reached double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. All 11 players in the scorebook scored at least two points in the win versus the Eagles (2-9).

South Stanly takes on Corvian Community (4-2) tonight at 7:30 p.m. The Cardinals advanced to the semifinals with an 80-35 win versus West Stanly (4-5).

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Albemarle’s starting point guard continued to light up the scoreboard Thursday as the Bulldogs women’s basketball took on Mooresville in the semifinals of the Mount Pleasant Holiday Classic.

Junior Amari Baldwin torched the Blue Devils for 28 points as Albemarle advanced to tonight’s tourney finals with a 61-22 victory.

Baldwin scored 11 in both the first and second quarters for Albemarle (8-1) as the Bulldogs led Mooresville (3-7) by 13 after one quarter, 20-7, and by 30 at halftime, 42-12.

Jasmine Brown reached double figures for Albemarle with 11 points while Bianca Robinson and Kai Spencer scored eight points each.

Albemarle takes on the Spartans (7-5) tonight at 7. Sun Valley advanced to the finals with a 54-47 win versus Northwest Cabarrus.

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North Stanly’s eight team men’s basketball holiday tournament opened Wednesday evening with a pair of games.

After Union Academy opened with an 85-50 win versus Valor Prep, the host Comets took on Central Academy out of the Rocky River Conference.

North Stanly kept the Cougars off the scoreboard for nearly seven minutes in the opening period and cruised to a 56-34 win.

Jalen Walker led North (9-2) with 17 points, scoring nine of the Comets’ 13 points in the third period. Gavin Helms added 12 points for North.

Maddox Lowder scored all 10 of his points for the Comets in the first quarter.

The Comets out scored Central 13-0 over the first 6:54 of the first quarter.

In the second, the Cougars (2-8) pulled to within 13 points with 3:29 left in the period.

A 9-0 Comets run put the hosts up by 20 points or more for the remainder of the half.

North Stanly and Union Academy will play Friday night at 6 p.m.

On Thursday, the undefeated South Stanly Rebel Bulls (8-0) will take on the Bonnie Cone Eagles (2-8) at 7 p.m.

West Stanly (4-4) faces Corvian Community (3-2) at 5:30 p.m.

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The Mount Pleasant Women’s Basketball Holiday Classic, presented by Estep Electrical Solutions, kicked off with four games this morning.

Albemarle, who entered the tournament with a 6-1 record ranked sixth in the 1A Western Region, took on Parkwood in the opening game at 9 a.m.

The Bulldogs got another big game from its junior point guard as Albemarle easily advanced to the winner’s bracket semifinals with a 75-25 win versus the Wolf Pack.

Amari Baldwin led Albemarle (7-1) with 25 points, including 15 in the first half. Kai Spencer added 13 points for the Bulldogs and Bianca Robinson reached double figures with 10 points.

Albemarle led 24-8 after one quarter and 46-18 at the halftime break.

The Bulldogs will face Mooresville (3-6) Thursday at 12 p.m. The Blue Devils advanced with a 58-42 win versus Concord.

In the other opening round games today, West Stanly lost to Northwest Cabarrus, 79-34, and Sun Valley topped the host Mount Pleasant Tigers, 70-31.

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The Stanly Dreamers celebrated the holiday season with a program at the C.B. Crook YMCA Pavillion in Albemarle.

At “Let’s Claus a Scene: The Christmas Experience,” children in attendance received gifts from Santa, including Mia Brown and Vance Leake, who each won bicycles as part of a raffle.

Tammie Owens and Jamond Pinkney performed a skit where Owens told the story of Christmas and the birth of Jesus as a bedtime story.

Lisa Leech performs a dance. (Photo by CHARLES CURCIO/staff)

Tempest Leake shared information about the Kwanzaa holiday, which was started in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, chair of the Africana Studies department at California State University – Long Beach.

The festival, Leake said, was formed in the wake of the Watts riots to “bring the African-American community together” and combines harvest celebrations from the Ashanti and Zulu tribes. Kwanzaa goes from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1, 2024.

Twana Pinkney, the founder and CEO of Stanly Dreamers, shared a message of thanks for the support of those who made the event possible.

Attendees then shared a meal together while the children opened their presents.

Stanly Dreamers is a nonprofit organization whose purpose, per the group’s website, is “dedicated to providing educational, cultural and mentor support for children in Stanly County.”

The bike winners were Mia Brown (above) and Vance Leake (below). (Photo by CHARLES CURCIO/staff)

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A Norwood-based nonprofit community outreach initiative recently hosted a ceremony to honor community members who have helped it out.

Community Who Cares, started by Grover Shankle in 2008,  hosted a banquet to honor members of local law enforcement and others for helping the organization, including street cleanup efforts.

The organization challenges citizens “to take their community back by picking up trash in the senior citizen’s neighborhoods and along the highway to preserve what they called home,” according to its website.

The website also said Community Who Cares “will demolish and remove old structures used for drug houses and beautify the communities with landscaping.”

Honorees included Norwood Police Chief James Wilson, Oakboro Police Chief T.J. Smith, Albemarle Police Chief Jason Bollhorst, former South Stanly High School athletic director Charlie Phillips, South Stanly High School head football coach Terry Shankle and citizens Brenda and Titus Stanback, Alice Davis, Sonny Dunlap, Dion Brooks, Ollie Shankle, Eric Dewall, Truttie Shankle, Eric Allsbrook, Jasper Powe, Robin Gaines and others.

Grover Shankle and his wife, Edwina, head up the Community Who Cares nonprofit organization. (Photo by CHARLES CURCIO/staff)

Carl Sharperson, a former Naval Academy graduate and Marine Corps pilot turned motivational speaker, delivered the keynote address. Sharperson played football for Navy, and shared something he learned from a football coach in high school.

“Quitters never win and winners never quit. He said, ‘If you quit my football team, you might quit school and get married. You might quit your spouse, and if you have kids, you might quit your kids. Because once you quit the first time, it’s easy to quit the next time,” Sharperson said.

Other honorees included Terry Watkins, Billy McRae, Johnny Carpenter, Will Watkins, Vicki Watkins, Joyce Baldwin, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Rush, Arloshia Isreal, Christopher Deberry, Sherry Watkins, Ralph Jackson, Tim Hill, Albemarle Fire Chief T. Pierre Brewton, Norwood Mayor Pro Tem James Lilly, Creola Clark and Bobby Benjamin.

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