Jaguars motivated by last year's title game loss

GASTONIA — Shannon Smith, Kelsey Harris and the Forestview Jaguars have waited an entire year for Saturday’s game.

Last season’s two-point loss in the state championship game left them with a bad taste in their mouths, and they’ve been determined all season to give themselves another shot.

That chance comes at 5 p.m. Saturday in Chapel Hill, where the Jaguars (26-2) will face South Central (28-4) for the 3A girls state basketball title. The players and coaches want nothing more than to avoid a repeat of last year, when they lost 60-58 to Greensboro Dudley.

“We just don’t want to feel like that again, so we’re going to go out there and try our best to win,” said Harris, one of four seniors on the team.

Smith, the team’s leading scorer, appeared to take the championship loss harder than any other player last year. She scored 31 points but missed 25 shots and burst into tears at the final buzzer.

“It was the most devastating thing I’ve been through, I think,” Smith said. “Seriously, because that’s my life, playing basketball. It hurt me bad. I’m just now getting over it.”

The Jaguars have played like a team on a mission all season. They won their fourth consecutive Big South Conference title, rolled through the sectionals and regionals by double digits in all five outings and take a 19-game winning streak into Saturday's showdown.

Smith (North Carolina) and Harris (Elon) have earned scholarships to play Division I basketball next season, and their talent has simply overwhelmed many of their opponents. But Saturday the Jaguars will face an athletic team that features a future Division I player in Danielle Butts, a junior who has committed to North Carolina.

“Defense wins games like everyone says, so I think that’s going to be a big key,” Smith said. “And just playing hard. It’s who wants it more, I think.”

The Falcons advanced with a 67-59 victory over Fayetteville Westover in the 3A Eastern Regional final. Forestview is coming off its closest playoff game, a 63-45 defeat of North Iredell in the 3A Western Regional championship.

The Jaguars believe they’ll have an advantage by having played in the state championship a year ago. For starters, they already know what it’s like to play in a big arena and be surrounded by extra cameras. And, perhaps more importantly, they have the motivation that can only come from that sick feeling of losing on the biggest stage.

“I’d like to get rid of that feeling,” head coach Ken Beaty said. “And the only way to do that is to get a win.”

You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.