Bishop McGuinness

Uncategorized

Three-Peat Squared

March 16, 2014 by 1 Comment

Every year about this time I seem to be writing about the young women who play basketball at my alma mater. In 2011, they tied the North Carolina state record for consecutive state titles. In 2012, they broke the record for consecutive state titles. In 2013, they extended their record when they came from 11 down with five minutes to go.

And this year, they made it a three-peat squared. In other words, nine straight state championships in the NCHSAA 1-A women’s basketball category. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations record book, this puts them at number three on the all-time list for consecutive state championships in women’s basketball behind Milwaukee Pius XI and Dallas Bishop Lynch. Those schools are tied at 12 each.

The game itself was close with Bishop winning over Williamston Riverside by a score of 61-58.

The clock showed 5.2 seconds when Putman rebounded the second of two missed free throws from Riverside’s Kayla Jones, then weaved her way to the half-court line and let loose with a desperation shot from 47 feet.


The shot — dead on line — seemed to wedge momentarily between the backboard and the back of the rim. It came off softly, hit the rim again, and dropped in.

 You can see that winning shot below. All I can say is wow. And yes, I am a proud alumnus of Bishop McGuinness.

Uncategorized

Off Topic But A Nice Story

January 26, 2014 by 2 Comments

I was sitting in bed this morning, drinking my first cup of coffee, and watching CBS Sunday Morning when a story by Steve Hartman came on. When they first flashed the preview of the story something about that school logo triggered something in my subconscious.

A few words into the story and I knew why that logo triggered something. It was the logo from my alma mater! One does not expect to see a story on TV about their old high school unless it is the scene of a tragedy. This is especially true when it is a small school located in the Piedmont of North Carolina located midway between Greensboro and Winston-Salem.

Hartman’s story is about a cancer survivor who is playing the game in memory of a friend who also had cancer but didn’t make it. The players on the boy’s basketball team were asked to pick someone to dedicate the game to and junior Spencer Wilson picked Josh Reminger who had died nine months earlier.

I’ll let Steve Hartman tell the rest of the story.

Uncategorized

An Unbelievable Eight In A Row

March 17, 2013 by

Permit me this indulgence as this post won’t be on guns, finance, legal issues, or politics. It will be on the tenacity and resilience of a group of high school girls, whom when they were down by 11 with 5 minutes to go in the game, didn’t give up.

From the Winston-Salem Journal:

The Villains looked so dead with five minutes left — they trailed 50-39 then — that Robinson compared his team to Jason Voorhees, the immortal character from the “Friday the 13th ” movie series.

“You just keep coming back again and again and again…,” he said.

After a tough afternoon of outside shooting, McGuinness found its range just in time. The Villains were 6 of 25 on 3-point shots overall, but they made the final three they took. Freshman Tia Cappuccio sandwiched two 3s around a traditional three-point play by Olivia DeFrancesco and a 3-point field goal by Cameron Nieters.

Those points all came in a 15-0 run that stunned the Jaguars, who had the lead for 26½ of the game’s 32 minutes.

The Villains in question are from Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School of Kernersville, North Carolina – my alma mater.  They have just won an unbelievable eight state 1-A girls basketball championships….in a row. I wrote about them two years ago when they tied the state record for consecutive championships at six and then last year when they made it seven in a row. I really never thought that I’d be writing about them winning an eighth straight championship. They didn’t win their conference and were only ranked 11th out of 96 teams in the 1-A division by MaxPreps. They had to play their way into the Western Regional championships where they were the 4th seed.

I’ll let Coach Brian Robinson finish this for me.

Uncategorized

Seven Is A Lucky Number

March 11, 2012 by 1 Comment

Last year about this time I did a post on how the girl’s basketball team at my high school alma mater had just won the Class 1A state championship. I also mentioned that in winning six consecutive state championships the Lady Villains had tied the record for most championships and most consecutive championships held by Hayesville High School.

Seven is a lucky number for this team. They were the seventh seed in the Western Regional Bracket. I’ll let Mason Linker of the Winston-Salem Journal take it from here.

Yes, they did it again.

The Bishop McGuinness girls made NCHSAA basketball history Saturday, using 20 points from Sammi Goldsmith to pave the way to a 60-44 victory against Chocowinity Southside at the Smith Center.

It was the seventh consecutive title for the Villains, giving them the all-classifications record, for girls and boys. The Hayesville girls set the previous record, winning six 1-A titles from 1988 to 1993.

“Obviously this is an incredible feeling right now,” said coach Brian Robinson, the architect of the dominant run.

“I am proud of the girls, happy for our fans, for our alumni.

“I feel like a very lucky person to be the coach of this program and it’s just a pleasure being a part of this every day.”

So congratulations to the young women of the Lady Villains for their record-breaking win from one proud alumnus.

Uncategorized

Six-Peat

March 13, 2011 by 1 Comment

I don’t usually follow high school sports nor do I usually talk about them in this blog. Permit me to make an exception.

Congratulations to the Lady Villains of Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School of Kernersville, NC for winning their sixth consecutive NCHSAA Class 1-A girls basketball state championship. Their win in Chapel Hill tied North Carolina state records held by Hayesville High for most consecutive championships and for most championships.

The Lady Villains won the game 57-43 against Southwest Onslow High.

Megan Buckland, McGuinness’ only senior and far and away its top player, spent much of her time doing the dirty work and passing the ball to teammates because the Villains led by 23 less than 11 minutes into the game.

Coach Brian Robinson of McGuinness, humble until the end, called off the dogs and called on the matador defense in the second half, during which the Stallions outscored the Villains 30-21.

“As long as you have the game in hand, there is no use to press or trap,” Robinson said. “We just wanted to win the game. This is bigger than basketball. We had enough to win and we will never win by running the score up.”

Given the youth of the team – only one senior – it is quite possible that next year I will have a post entitled “Seven-Peat”. Great play, great coaching, and great sportsmanship will get them there.

Besides, Bishop McGuinness has one of the coolest team names going – Villains. The only other name that I think can compete is the University of Idaho with the Vandals.

And yes, I am an alumnus of Bishop McGuinness, Class of 1975, from when it was located in Winston-Salem.