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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

The Davie girls basketball couldn’t stay with Reynolds in the second half of the regular-season finale, but that did not diminish the fact that Lindsey Adams’ War Eagles are pointed in the right direction – upward.

On Senior Night on Feb. 13, Davie clobbered Glenn 67-24. Three days later in Winston-Salem, Davie lost 57-45 to second-place Reynolds.

After the War Eagles scratched and clawed to a 3-9 record in Adams’ first season in 2021, they followed that up with 9-14 in 2022 and 13-13 in 2023 and they closed the 2024 regular season at 14-10. That’s the most wins in eight years. They finished third in the Central Piedmont Conference, which marks the best league showing in eight years.

Three seniors have been along for the Great Rebuild. Unfortunately, one of them had to play an “assistant coach” role this entire season. Kenadi Gentry was Davie’s No. 1 scorer as a sophomore (11.9) and junior (12.9) and was set for a huge senior year. All her senior dreams, though, were erased by a preseason knee injury.

Adams put K. Gentry on the court for the start of the Glenn game. She hit a layup and walked off to warm applause from the crowd.

“It took her three years to learn what I want out of a point guard, and we are playing a season without one and she is trying to give advice,” Adams said. “She recognizes what is happening, but she can’t do anything about it. Now that her sister (sophomore Makenzie Gentry) is able to play, she has taken on that role as big sister and explaining to her what a good drive is and what a bad drive is. She is trying to teach her the plays because she is so far behind (because of her own knee injuries).”

K. Gentry will be released late in the spring or early summer to begin knocking off the rust and preparing for a college career. She has offers from Brevard, St. Andrews and Methodist.

Bailey Aderhold, Emmie Burris, Peyton Spaugh, M. Gentry and Malayka Rankin took turns scoring as Davie staggered Glenn with 22 first-quarter points. The lead was 39-16 at halftime and 56-21 after the third quarter.

Rankin (15), Spaugh (11) and Avarie Martin (10) all hit double figures. Davie also got eight from Burris, seven from M. Gentry, six from Madison Daugherty, six from Aderhold and two from Vivian Vaughters.

Afterward, Adams heaped praise on Rankin, a four-year varsity player who might be the greatest charge-taker Davie has ever seen.

“She is just a gamer,” Adams said. “She expects so much from herself. If she has a bad game or the team loses, never, never, never in four years has she put blame on somebody else. She always takes responsibility. Even if it’s not her fault, she’ll take blame for something and say I could’ve done this or I could’ve done that. That is very, very rare. She thrives off (taking charges). She’s able to run point guard if we need her to, she’s able to take the ball to the hole if we need her to, she’s able to step up and get a stop. She will guard their biggest player or their best ball handler – whatever we need her to do.”

Rankin is hoping to play ball somewhere in college.

Spaugh, a three-year varsity player, is also a big reason why Davie has improved every year of the Adams era.

“(Rankin and Spaugh) are going to be really tough to replace because of their toughness and strength,” Adams said.

Reynolds 57, Davie 45

The War Eagles came out hot on Friday, leading 18-12 after the first, but they couldn’t keep it going against a 16-8 opponent. The Demons outscored Davie 26-12 in the middle quarters and overcame Rankin’s 17 points.

It was actually an inconsequential game because Davie was already locked into third place.

Burris was second with 10 points. Martin had nine, Spaugh six and Aderhold three.

The final CPC standings: Mt. Tabor 13-1, Reynolds 12-2, Davie 8-6, West Forsyth/Reagan 7-7, Parkland 5-10, East Forsyth 3-11, Glenn 1-13.