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SportsBoys Basketball NotesWhite-hot Knights begintough stretch of gamesby Aaron Garcia and C. Jemal Hortonsports@thecharlotteweekly.comEarly in the 2010-11 season, theArdrey Kell Knights are embarking ona stretch that resembles the postseason.On Dec. 14, the Knights defeatedIndependence, 63-52, in the first of fivegames in seven days. Ardrey Kell alsohad games scheduled at home againstWeddington (Dec. 15), at Myers Park(Friday, Dec. 17), at home againstWaxhaw Marvin Ridge (Monday, Dec.20) and at Weddington (Tuesday, Dec.21).“We pushed our schedule backbecause of football,” Knights coachMike Craft said. “We knew we hadsome big guys coming from our footballteam, so we didn’t play until Nov.30.”The Knights have looked good in theearly going, jumping to a 4-1 record,including a 2-0 mark in the Southwestern4A conference. Their only losscame against West Mecklenburg.But Ardrey Kell appears built for thelong haul, especially with junior guardElvis Kisonas shooting the ball.Heading into the Independencegame, Kisonas was shooting a sizzling71 percent from beyond the 3-pointline, making 12 of 17 shots. He’s averaging15.3 points while making 64 percentof his field goals and 93 percentof his free throws.“He’s been a pleasant surprise,”Craft said. “He played JV last year. WeThe Weekly Super 10BOYSTEAMBASKETBALL RANKINGSLast week1. Charlotte Christian 12. West Charlotte 23. Olympic 34. North Mecklenburg 55. Berry 86. Vance 77. West Mecklenburg 48. Butler 69. Ardrey Kell Not ranked10. Providence Day Not rankedAlso receiving votes: Rocky River (1), Waddell (1)Dropped out: No. 9 Rocky River, No. 10 WaddellPage 28 • Dec. 17-23, 2010 • South Charlotte Weeklyweren’t expecting him to come in andshoot the ball like this.”Craft said senior swingman AndrewAlexander, a football player, also hasplayed well, averaging 10 points andfour rebounds.Mustangs making ‘big’ stridesMyers Park has lost five of its sevengames this season, but the Mustangsaren’t panicking. Coach Rick Lewis’steam is extremely young, having lostfour starters from a squad that finishedthird in the Southwestern 4A conferencelast season.“I’ve got two sophomores who areplaying, and the seniors I have justdon’t have a lot of playing time undertheir belts,” Lewis said.The Mustangs found reason foroptimism in a 75-71 loss to Butler inthe first league game of the season.Until that Dec. 10 contest, they hadn’tscored more than 48 points in a game.But against Butler, the Mustangsshowed they can exploit somethingmost teams in the league cannot: bonafide big men.Myers Park’s interior trio of 6-foot-7Clayton Massey, 6-5 Tyler Powelland 6-5 Major Thomas was effectiveagainst Butler’s guard-heavy squad.Massey powered his way to 27 points,10 rebounds and three blocks. Powell,who weighs 220 pounds, had 11points, nine rebounds and one block.Thomas, who like Massey is a sophomore,added four rebounds.“We knew (Butler) didn’t have all thefootball players since they hadto play in the state championship(the next day), sothey probably didn’t have aguy over, maybe, 6-1,” Lewissaid. “So we just decided topound (the ball) inside. Ourhigh-low offense workedreally well.“We’ve struggled offensivelyearly, just trying toget the flow and continuitythat we’ve had the last fewyears. We took several stepsforward (against Butler).I’m real pleased. We havethe advantage most nightsinside. If our guards continueto play well, we’ll givepeople a hard time. We’ll beOK.”Sabres success imminent?While it might not be evidentin its record, South(see Boys basketball on page 29)GIRLS Basketball NotesCharger Mitchell scores1,000th career pointby C. Jemal Horton and Aaron Garciasports@thecharlotteweekly.comA little more than halfway throughher high school career, ProvidenceDay’s Tiffany Mitchell has scored morethan 1,000 points.Mitchell, a highly recruited juniorguard, eclipsed the 1,000-point barrierDec. 3 during a victory over RaleighRavenscroft.The 5-foot-11 Mitchell is averaging15.7 points, 10 rebounds, six steals andfour assists for the Chargers, who havea 4-2 record.This season, Providence Day also hasreceived strong contributions from 6-3freshman Jatarie White, who averages12 points and 10 rebounds; 6-1 juniorforward Olivia Parker, who averages 10points while making 67 percent of hershots; 5-11 senior forward Sarah Burnick,who averages eight points andshots 90 percent from the free-throwline; and 5-6 sophomore point guardJada Brayboy, who scores 6.3 points andalso adds 3.5 assists and 3.3 steals.Providence girls starting to gelAfter losing its first five games of theseason, Providence High seems to beheating up after consecutive victoriesover Weddington (52-41 on Dec. 8) andRocky River (68-33 on Dec. 10).While the losing skid season was painful,it was probably necessary, first-yearcoach Bill Smith said.“First of all, we’re playing together,”said Smith of the difference he’s seenafter the two wins. “We only have tworeturning girls, so those fivegames were preparation andallowed the girls to learnhow to play together, learnthe system, the plays and thedefenses and begin to executethem. They’ve gotten bettereach game.”Smith replaced Mike Bellisimo,who went 10-16 lastseason. The fact that Smithhas spent the previous fiveseasons in the program as theJV coach and a varsity assistanthas helped the transition.“That helps bring someconsistency to all the changewe’ve had,” said Smith. “I’mthe fourth head coach in sixyears here, and that’s beenquite tough for the team.”The biggest key to the twogamewin streak has beentaking care of the ball. Afteraveraging more than 15 turnovers in thefirst five games, the Panthers committedjust five miscues against Weddingtonand four against Rocky River.Returning starters and junior captainsAlyson King (seven points per game) andElena Covert (8.4) have been solid inthe backcourt. But perhaps the biggestchange from last season has been frontcourtplay, led by Emily Franklin (9.7rebounds per contest), Casey Rieger(7.3) and Alexandra Mayo (6.3).Conditioned Knights ready to runArdrey Kell coach Tina Lawrence isexcited about her team – and with goodreason.The Knights are off to a 4-1 start thisseason, including a 2-0 mark in theSouthwestern 4A conference after routingIndependence 82-38 on Dec. 14.Lawrence said the Knights finally areable to play the aggressive brand of basketballshe wanted after taking over theprogram last season. The difference?Hard work away from the basketballcourt.“We’ve done a lot of work on thetrack,” Lawrence said. “We’ve beendoing conditioning four days a week,and that’s helped us tremendously. Inthe past, some of the girls have doneit, but this year we did it as a team. It’shelped our stamina, our footwork andour agility.“We’ve always wanted to be an uptempoteam, but this year’s it seems tobe clicking. The girls are in great shape,and we hope to keep that up.”(see Girls basketball on page 29)The Weekly Super 10GIRLS BASKETBALL RANKINGSTEAMLast week1. Butler 12. Hopewell 23. Mallard Creek 44. Providence Day 35. Charlotte Christian 66. Berry 57. West Mecklenburg 88. North Mecklenburg 109. SouthLake Christian Not ranked10. Hough 9Also receiving votes: Harding (1), Olympic (1)Dropped out: No. 7 Hardingwww.thecharlotteweekly.com