Furies Win First-Ever State Championship in Girls' Varsity Basketball

 

The Fury girls’ varsity basketball team has made school history as the first-ever FCDS girls’ basketball team to win the NCISAA 3-A State Championship.

Forsyth ended its 2018-2019 regular season with a 16-8 record, tying 4-A Greensboro Day School for the Piedmont Triad Athletic Conference (PTAC) Championship. “We shared the conference title with GDS, and the only games we lost were to each other,” said Head Coach Frank Brown.

Forsyth was seeded fifth in the run for the state title, and the small eight-person team was a decided underdog going into the state tournament.

In the first-round game, the Furies beat non-ranked Grace Christian School 56-10 at home. In the second round, the Furies defeated Asheville Christian Academy at home on Valentine’s Day.

In the third round, Forsyth faced the fourth seed, Hickory Grove Christian School. “We had played them previously and lost with our leading scorer battling the flu. We were fairly confident that they had shown us their best, but we knew we had more to show,” Coach Brown said.

“We just wanted revenge,” said sophomore captain Josie Kilborn. “We knew that we could have beat them [before] and we wanted to show it.”

In the semifinals, the Furies faced their toughest opponent yet: Fayetteville Christian School, the Sandhills Conference Champion and the number-one seed in the tournament. “Before we played them, they were 28-1,” Coach Brown said. “We gave them only their second loss of the season.”

In this key game, the Furies - whose tallest players are only 5’10” - faced girls who were 6’4”, 6’2”, and 6’1. “We outworked them,” said Coach Brown. “Sydney Hopkin and Trinity Sanders [both sophomores] are the MVPs of that semifinal because they outworked girls who were bigger than them. They outrebounded all of them.” The Furies defeated the titan Fayetteville team 51-38.

Seemingly against the odds, the Furies were headed to the NCISAA 3-A State Championship game against Concord First Assembly Academy, the Metrolina Conference Champions. The teams had similar records going into the game, and the Furies ended the first half down by eight.

During halftime, the Furies went into a vacant classroom and sat in silence for two solid minutes. “We sat in that classroom and it just clicked for us: O.K., we got this,” said senior Olivia Diaz, who was sitting out with a concussion. “So we went out in the second half of the state championship game and we started our press. During our press, Amira [Willams, the junior captain and team high-scorer] stole the ball and made a shot. In our next possession, she hit a three-pointer, and that’s when we knew, we got this. She was on a roll and everybody else was boxing out. I don’t think they scored in those three possessions.”

Senior captain Haleigh Koslowski, the team’s point guard and the player Coach Brown describes as his “floor general”, grabbed the last rebound of the game. “I saw her dribble up the court and look at the clock and it was going down,” said Amira Williams. “Four, three, two...it was crazy. Because we actually did it. We won.”

The Furies beat Concord First Assembly 44-38 in a true team effort. “In the championship game, it wasn’t just one person, it was everybody...even people who didn’t get in the game,” Haleigh said. “They’re cheering from the bench, they’re helping us call out plays, read the defense...it was everybody...not just one or two or three people.”

This win, Coach Brown said, has his team getting the respect they deserve. “They’re good kids, good role models,” he said. “Even if they hadn’t won the state championship, seeing them be successful and to have them recognize, ‘You know what? This was an accomplishment!’ is amazing. Teaching these girls to believe in themselves and that if they do the hard work and work with other people, they can accomplish great things. I’m just so glad they got to have that experience.”

Coach Brown also credits his assistant coaches, veteran Gary Haley, who’s been with the Fury girls for four years, and Ashton Fleming, who is in her second year with the basketball program. “We wouldn’t have won the state championship without Gary and Ashton on our staff, or without the strong foundation laid in the preceding years by Coach Gray, Coach Ronnalee Terry, and Coach Annette Kozlowski. They all played a part in this.”

“I am so proud of this team and all of the adversity that we had to overcome this year,” Coach Fleming said. “This is a special group and I am grateful to be a part of such a historic moment for the school. Despite where we began, the girls continued to fight, put in the extra work, and do the little things to win game after game after game!”

Congratulations to the entire Fury girls’ varsity basketball team, who are:

Haleigh Kozlowski (captain, senior)

Amira Williams (captain, junior)

Josie Kilborn (captain, sophomore)

Mary Kate Gargis, eighth grade

Sydney Hopkin, sophomore

Trinity Sanders, sophomore

Olivia Diaz, senior

Rylie DeSabato, freshman

Marlena Hall, seventh grade

Sienna Ricciardi, seventh grade

Manager: Lucas Zhang

Assistant Coach: Ashton Fleming

Assistant Coach: Gary Haley

All-Conference: Amira Williams, Josie Kilborn, Haleigh Kozlowski

All-State: Amira Williams, Josie Kilborn

North Carolina Private School All-Star Game Selection: Haleigh Kozlowski

Conference Co-Coach of the Year: Frank Brown