Jeff Davis photo

Chatham Central’s Becca Bolton outhustles a South Stanly Rebel for the ball in their game last week. Bolton was able to retrieve the ball and get it back to a teammate before heading back down the court. Bolton scored 18 points in the Lady Bear 57-41 win.

The Bears battled and scrapped with the favored Wildcats, leading much of the contest while remaining within striking distance through most of the fourth quarter.

Ultimately nine costly CC turnovers in the last frame combined with the clutch shooting of Bryan England spelled doom for the Bears who were saddled with a tough 65-61 defeat.

England, who finished with 19 points, canned four free throws midway through the fourth to give ER some breathing room at 56-49.

Then within a 1:07 span a trio of Central turnovers led to a 7-2 Wildcat run which was capped by a trey from the right wing from England. The result was ER pushing its lead to 63-51 with 2:17 remaining and the hole was too big for the Bears to recover from despite outscoring Eastern 10-2 the rest of the way behind a trey each from Josh Tilton and Spencer Moody.

In a grueling, physical battle with the West Davidson Green Dragons, CC entered the fourth quarter trailing its Yadkin Valley foes by five points.

Then, as Bears coach Gerald Binkley explained, "it was like a light-switch turned on."

With just over seven minutes to go in the game, the light Binkley referred to was the CC offense.

Led by freshman Becca Bolton, the Bears put a clinic on the home Dragons, laying a 28-5 run on WD to end the game, earning a 57-41 pull away victory.

"It’s like we turned the light switch on or something," Binkley said. "We ran our offense well, we missed shots but got so many offensive rebounds. This really feels good."

The huge burst stunned the Dragons, leading to three technical fouls called on West in the final three minutes.

The loss had to be especially hard to take for the home squad, being it led much of the game.

After falling behind, 5-4, midway through the first quarter, the Green Dragons led until Erin Leonard’s 10-foot jumper with six minutes to go in the game gave the Bears a lead they would not relinquish.

"We got the ball inside a lot better," said Binkley. "We were trying earlier in the game, but the opposite was happening. Something just clicked."

It was Bolton that spear-headed the dramatic comeback, scoring 15 of her team-high 18 points after halftime.

On Monday, N.C State running back and Albemarle alum, T.A. McClendon, announced he was forgoing his final year of college and making himself eligible for next April’s NFL draft.

McClendon ended his high-school career as one of the most prolific backs in North Carolina history.

Before Ragsdale’s Toney Baker broke his records this year, what McClendon accomplished at Albemarle had never been seen before.

Then he took his act to Raleigh to play for chuck Amato and the Wolfpack.

When he played, McClendon was as exciting a player as you could see.

He ran with power and speed, and at times almost willed his teammates to play better.

When he played, State was a team to be reckoned with.

When he played.

McClendon had a career marred with injuries.

From his hand to his hamstring, something always seemed to be bothering him, forcing him to miss games.

Now he will go up against players that are bigger and stronger than anything he faces now.

How will he hold up in the NFL?

There’s no doubt that some team will draft him on his talent level alone, probably somewhere between the fourth and sixth round.

McClendon showed during his three years in Raleigh that he has the talent to play at the next level.

more- See Thursday, December 16 paper: Vol 85, No. 3