Women’s Basketball: Ring Season
By Hailey Paige
The 2023–24 season for Knight’s Women’s Basketball has been a wonderful season, ending regular conference play with a 17–1 record. With this record, the knights ended up tying with another team in the conference, Methodist, for the number #1 seed. To determine who would take the top spot there was a coin flip held by the commissioner of the USA South Conference. It happened at 6 pm on the 17th of February.
The Knights ended up winning it allowing them to be the #1 seed. It was kind of surreal, many players said. They were on the bus coming back from their win against Greensboro and when it hit 6 they were all on their phones ready to see the coin flip. “Hearing the commissioner say that they had won was an indescribable feeling”, said Camilla Norton, Psychology 25’. The bus erupted in cheers and everyone was celebrating. The conference tournament began February 20th and there were high hopes going into it.
For the women’s tournament there are 8 teams that make it to the conference tournament. The placement or seeding is based on wins and losses, having a better record means having a better chance of playing on your home court. The highest seeds in the tournament will start hosting the lower seeds, the #1 team being able to play at home unless they lose. The games this year were the quarter finals on February 20th, semi-finals on February 22, and finals on February 24th.
After round one of the tournament, the Knights beat William Peace 115–43, setting a record for the largest lead to beat another team. Being the #1 seed in the conference allowed us to host the games on our home court. Abby Snyder, Business ’25, said “I was so nervous but super excited to be playing in the tournament and hosting at home.”
In round two of the tournament, the Knights beat Brevard 66–45. Both teams came ready to play, but the Knights proved to be too much for the Tornadoes. The atmosphere for this game was different. “I was nervous going into the game but once we were locked in on defense I knew that we would do good”, said the tournament’s MVP Addy Newman, Biochemistry ‘25.
In the championship game, the Knights beat North Carolina Weslyean 69–41. There were a lot of nervous emotions before the game from many of the players. Sophomore, Maria Savvun, business ’26, said “Before the game I was very nervous, the night before and the morning of the game but I continued to pray which helped my confidence.” Another player, Emma Camden, Family and Human Development 24’, said “I was super excited but I knew it would0 be my last game in the barn. It was a bittersweet feeling but there was no better way to leave a legacy in the barn.”
The Knights found out Monday afternoon that they would be playing DeSales, the hosting team, to start the opening round of the national tournament. It was a tough game but sadly the Knights were unable to come back and lost 42–53, ending their season. Although they were expecting to go further, they still had a great season finishing with a 22–7 overall record. The team is still young, only losing one senior, so they have high hopes to return to the national tournament next year.
