The Chapel Hill High School women’s basketball had yet another dominant season, their fourth winning season in the past five years.
The Tigers started off their season strong, winning their first six games. On December 9, the undefeated Tigers went to Pittsboro to face off against the 3-1 Seaforth Hawks, one of the toughest matchups of the season.
Last season, the Hawks went all the way to the 2A North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) state championship, led by junior star Gabby White, who leads the team in practically every statistic and holds college offers from multiple Power 5 programs.
The Tigers got off to a hot start, scoring 15 points in the first quarter and holding the Hawks to only seven; however, the Hawks bounced back in the second quarter, outscoring the Tigers 18-5.
Going into halftime, the Hawks were leading 25-20. Fans could already tell the game was going to be a thriller.
The Tigers came out of halftime looking better than ever, playing great defense and putting up 16 points in the third quarter. But the Hawks clawed back in the fourth quarter to win 46-41, handing the Tigers their first loss of the season.
After the heartbreaker in Pittsboro, the Tigers picked up two more wins against Western Alamance and Eastern Alamance to improve their record to 8-1.
The Tigers then went on to play in the John Wall Holiday Invitational from December 28–30 in Raleigh, where teams from New Jersey to Ohio to North Carolina participated.
Chapel Hill picked up three losses that weekend to Pickerington Central, Mallard Creek, and Watauga High School.
Going into the new year, the Tigers sat at 8-4, and, with conference play two weeks away, the Tigers had to knuckle down. Their first contest of the new year was an away game against rival Cardinal Gibbons on January 3.
The first quarter was evenly played; however, the Tigers held on to a one-point lead.
In the next quarter, things got interesting. Halfway through the second quarter, Chapel Hill multi-athlete star and co-captain Laynie Smith caught a lob pass from fellow senior co-captain Jadzia Burnette to score her 1,000th career point.
Laynie finished with a 28-point double-double as the Tigers beat the Crusaders convincingly 49-38.
Laynie, in fact, is the only Chapel Hill athlete ever to record both 1,000 career points and kills in basketball and volleyball, respectively.
“One of my goals I made this year was to get 1,000 kills in volleyball and 1,000 kills in basketball, so I felt very proud of myself for completing both of my goals,” Laynie said.
Laynie dominated her senior year, nearly averaging a double-double with 18.4 points per game and 9.2 rebounds per game. She also dished out 4.7 assists per game while averaging 3.3 steals and 2.5 blocks per game.
Any statistic one could think of, Laynie probably led the team and conference in it.
This dominant performance ended up leading to Laynie being crowned the DAC VI conference player of the year.
“When I got player of the year in the conference, I felt very grateful. My goal was not to get that award; it was more to just help my team get far in the playoffs, but winning the conference and getting the player of the year was just the icing on top,” Laynie said.
Laynie’s presence on the court will definitely be missed next year; however, look no further as the Smith pipeline has furnished two more players to the school’s basketball team. Sophomore twins Eva and Zoe Smith have already been a huge help for the Tigers, as they averaged 8.1 and 3.6 points per game, respectively.
The Cardinal Gibbons game seemed to be a momentum changer for the Tigers.
After beating the Crusaders, the Tigers ended the regular season with 11 straight victories.
The Tigers also went 10-0 in 4A DAC conference play, sweeping conference rivals such as East Chapel Hill, Hillside and Jordan High School.
With a 20-4 regular season record and the top seed in the conference tournament, winning a state championship was a serious possibility.
The Tigers cruised through the conference tournament, picking up a 37-point win against East Chapel Hill in the second round, as well as a 16-point win against Hillside to win the conference championship.
The Tigers had won 14 games in a row to earn the sixth seed in the 2024 NCHSAA women’s basketball playoffs.
The Tigers won their first playoff game versus Knightdale by 18 points, with junior co-captain Ashton Beale and Laynie scoring 14 each in the process.
“The Knightdale game was a great game; we started off a little slow and gave the other team a chance, but after halftime we came out strong and finished the game,” Beale said.
The second-round matchup was against the Green Level Gators, and once again the Tigers cruised past their opponent, beating them 61-28. Laynie alone had more points than the entire Gators squad, posting a 29-point double-double.
With 16 teams left in the playoffs, the Tigers started to face the most elite competition in North Carolina.
The Tigers’ sweet sixteen matchup was against the Panther Creek Catamounts, led by senior star and Memphis commit Taylor Barner.
Unfortunately for the Catamounts, Barner—who was averaging over 23 points per game—had torn her meniscus and ACL a couple days before playing the Tigers. With a win against the Catamounts, the Tigers would extend their win streak to 17.
The Tigers dominated, to say the least, outscoring the Catamounts in every single quarter for a final score of 52-37.
The Tigers were now an Elite Eight team, and wins were looking automatic for them.
The Tigers’ run came to an end, however, as they lost 46-50 to the Rolesville Rams on March 8.
The game wasn’t particularly close as the Rams outscored the Tigers in the three out of four quarters and held Tigers to shoot 24% from the field.
While the season ended as many had hoped, the future is bright in Chapel Hill.
“We didn’t make it as far as we wanted to, but we have a pretty young team, and there is still more we want to accomplish, so I can’t wait for next year,” sophomore Scarlett Gilner said.
