Southeast Alamance Girls Basketball Team Reaches 5A State Championship Game

The Southeast Alamance Stallions carry a perfect 29-0 record into the NCHSAA Class 5A Women's Basketball State Championship game today at noon, where they face North Lincoln at LJVM Coliseum (also referred to as Joel Coliseum) in Winston-Salem. A win would give the Stallions back-to-back state titles in just the third year of the school's existence.

Southeast punched its ticket to Winston-Salem by dismantling second-seeded Rocky Mount 49-31 Saturday night in the East Regional final at East Carolina's Minges Coliseum in Greenville. The game was tighter than the final score suggests: Southeast led by just two at halftime, 19-17, before exploding for a 17-2 run in the third quarter that effectively ended the contest.

Rreanna Johnson led all scorers with 17 points on seven-of-nine shooting from the field. Shaniya Paylor and Inysia McIver each added 10 points, while Clara LaChapelle controlled the glass and the passing lanes, finishing with a team-high seven rebounds and a game-high four steals. Southeast won the rebounding battle 23-18.

North Lincoln reached the final by beating Forest Hills 79-51 in the West Regional final in Hickory. The Knights carry an official record of 8-21, but that number requires context: 17 on-court victories were overturned and recorded as forfeits after the program used an ineligible player earlier in the season, making their actual contested record 25-4. One of those four losses came against Southeast itself, a 65-62 neutral-court defeat on November 28.

Coach Amy Sarratt has built Southeast's identity around defense all season, and she points to that foundation as the reason the Stallions are still standing at the end of March. The experience of last year's championship run also factors into her thinking heading into today's game.

"We've been in these situations and I think that can help," Sarratt said.

Southeast enters championship week as one of only two undefeated girls' teams remaining in the entire NCHSAA. Maiden, the Class 4A finalist, is the other, carrying a 27-0 record into its own title game.

Fans who cannot make the drive to Winston-Salem can watch on the NFHS stream. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. The Alamance-Burlington School System Athletics office made the official game announcement.