Northwest Guilford Girls Basketball Sweeps Conference, Claims Multiple CPC Honors

Northwest Guilford's girls basketball program swept the Central Piedmont Conference this winter and collected multiple league honors, with sophomore point guard Sophie Montana named Girls Basketball Player of the Year and senior captain Lauren Byerly earning Defensive Player of the Year recognition.

Montana, a Division I recruit, led the Lady Vikings in both scoring and playmaking, averaging a team-high 19.7 points, a team-high 4.3 assists, 3.6 rebounds and three steals per game. The CPC honor reflects a season in which the Northwest sophomore consistently drove the offense from the point guard position.

Byerly's award was built on a defensive profile that stood out across the conference. The senior captain averaged 10.2 points per game alongside team highs of 11 rebounds, five steals and five deflections per game. Her production anchored a Vikings defense that surrendered 33.8 points per game on the season and tightened further in league play, giving up just 31.8 points per game against conference opponents.

The Vikings punctuated their conference dominance with a 51-35 victory over the West Forsyth Titans on Feb. 11 at West Forsyth High School in Clemmons. In the second half of that game, head coach Haley Hackett was seen addressing her team on the sideline, a snapshot of a program that held opponents to some of the stingiest defensive numbers in the CPC all season.

Northwest Guilford's sweep of the conference and the recognition earned by Montana and Byerly mark the program's most decorated winter in recent memory, with the Vikings claiming both of the conference's top individual girls basketball awards in the same season.