North Gaston outlasts Crest for Big South tournament title

DALLAS - While both Crest (4A) and North Gaston (3A) had already locked up the No. 1 Big South seed in their respective classifications, both teams played with passion and determination as the Wildcats won the Big South Conference Tournament Championship in a 3-2 nail-biter on Wednesday night.

Set scores were 26-28, 25-13, 25-22, 16-25, 15-6.

"Tournament champions was a goal. It's a building block to get us ready for state playoffs," North Gaston head coach Janice James said. "It's good to go into the playoffs with a win."

The Wildcats, who finished the regular season with a 17-8 record, were led by Caitlin Rubow with 10 kills, Carter Thomas with 34 digs and five aces, Carolyn Houser with four aces and 55 assists, Katie White with four kills, Jordan Vanderford with five kills and three blocks, Sidney Mitchell with three kills, and Hali Passmore with 25 digs.

"The whole team showed up big," James said. "This leaves no doubt who the conference champions are. We took care of business."

Meanwhile, Crest standouts were Cheyenne Cash with 13 kills, 12 digs and five blocks; Katelyn Waters with 10 digs and seven kills; Lou Bankhead with 13 digs, seven kills and an ace; and Alex Hollifield with 23 digs.

Despite the loss, Crest head coach Chris Medicus was still pleased with her team's performance in the championship.

"What we can take out of this is that we can go to five games, we can play hard, and we have the stamina to do that," Medicus said. "We're a young team and we have come a long way this season."

Both teams will host a match on Saturday in the first round of state playoffs. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association will release the pairings Thursday on its Web site, www.nchsaa.org.