Scouting Forestview's regional opponent
SCOUTING CHARLOTTE CATHOLIC
Record: 25-3
Playoff seed: MEGA 7 No. 1
Top players: Ali Lane, G, Jr., 5-7 (17.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 3.0 spg); Lauryn Kobiela, G, Sr., 5-9 (13.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.7 apg); Shawn Marie Heiliger, G, Sr., 5-6 (13.4 ppg, 5.1 apg, 3.6 spg)
Path to the regional: Catholic handled Northwest Cabarrus 52-23 in the first round and Marvin Ridge 56-38 in the second round before slipping past Concord 66-63 in the sectional finals.
College-bound: Kobiela is headed to Colgate. Lane, a junior, has been offered by Western Carolina and has drawn interest from Furman and Virginia Commonwealth.
The big three: Lane, Kobiela and Heiliger have supplied 70.1 percent of the team’s scoring. “Any of those can score 20 any night and they look to get each other involved,” Catholic coach Bobby Conrad said.
AAU connection: Forestview’s best two players have played on the same AAU team as Catholic’s two senior stars. Forestview’s Shannon Smith and Kelsey Harris won three state championships with Heiliger and one of them with Kobiela. Smith and Harris teamed with Heiliger from seventh to 11th grade and with Kobiela for two seasons.
Freshman memories: The last time these teams met, Smith hit an off-balance 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds remaining, giving Forestview a 56-53 win in the 2007 sectional semifinals. The Catholic coach hasn’t forgotten. “(Smith) was really good then, but you could tell she was going to keep getting better,” Conrad said. “She went head-to-head with our point guard, who went to Presbyterian.”
