The Lakewood Lady Leopards fell in round 3 of the NCHSAA 1A State Playoffs on Saturday night when they made the long drive to Plymouth High School.
The final score was 60-38, with the Lady Vikings prevailing.
Stats were unavailable for Lakewood following the game, but head coach Vonnie McNeil provided comments, stressing how proud she was of her team and what a joy her first year of being a head coach had been.
“I can honestly say I loved and enjoyed coaching this group of young ladies,” said McNeil. “In my eyes they were number one ad will always be number one. Yes, we ended our season in the third round, but that was a great accomplishment. Not too many people were still playing in the third round. We had a wonderful season.”
She went on to stress how important her team’s resiliency was to her.
“We battled a lot of scars and different injuries,” she said. “We still managed to push forward and made it as far as the third round. I’m proud of my Lady Leopards and they made my first year of head coaching awesome. To my four seniors, Briana, Jada, Justina, and Chanel, it was an honor coaching you girls, and best of luck in the future. I love you girls, all of you.”
Lakewood’s season ended with a 21-8 record. They went 11-3 in the Carolina 1A Conference. It was a successful first year under the McNeil era in Lakewood basketball, as they seemingly picked up right where Coach Kerr left off last season.
It was the second straight year that the Lady Leopards advanced to the Regional Quarterfinals.