Landrum Battle at the Border: Asheville HS

A new calendar year was literally hours away, but not before some of the areas most skilled hoops talents made it to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains for the 22^nd annual Battle at the Border. Eight girls teams and eight boys teams made it to the home court of the Cardinals for three days of exciting basketball. The Battle at the Border name sticks because one could drive about five minutes north of the Landrum HS campus and cross the state line from North Carolina into South Carolina or vice versa. Asheville’s girls team was the only squad from the Tar Heel State that was present at Battle at the Border. In Wednesday’s game with Clinton, a Palmetto State team, they ensured North Carolina was well represented at the Cardinals’ nest. <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-373132" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/01/IMG_5753-scaled-crop-2406x1580-1641573710-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> <strong>Gracie Smith – 2024</strong> – The Cougars dropped a deluge of points on Clinton in Wednesday’s action as part of Battle at the Border. That deluge included a torrent of treys coming from Smith’s hands. Out of the eight 3-pointers Asheville connected on for the game, four were via Smith and three of them were in the third quarter. She finished with 16 points in what was a winning Cougars effort. Smith can also make plays near the rim and brings an element of hustle to her team. She will cut through defenses to the rim without the ball in her hand to receive those passes. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="285944" first="Aleysha" last="Hill"] – 2023</strong> – Hill fits the bill at Asheville. She was only one of two Cougars to have at least one made basket in every quarter in her team’s commanding victory over Clinton (from the Palmetto State). She can drive the ball directly to the rim and has no problems absorbing contact which will place her at the free throw line. Hill was at that line a lot, making nine out of her 11 attempts from the stripe. She gets after it with hard-nosed defense and with how she can deflect passes, disrupting an opposing team’s passing lanes. Hill concluded her game having scored 16 points. <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-373144" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/01/IMG_5757-2-scaled-crop-2560x1681-1641574853-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="285936" first="Kirsten" last="Watt"] – 2024 </strong>– The talent fielded by head coach Sonita Warren-Dixon’s Cougars bunch is not only talented, but also young – meaning teams throughout the Tar Heel State for the next few seasons will have to circle Asheville on their calendars. A key element of Watt and the rest of the team is how much better they will continue to get as they gain more experience. Watt can drive near the baseline, then dish the rock out to an open teammate such as Hill or Smith. She can get creative with how she lays the ball in – at one point, she was to the right of the goal while laying the ball in with her left hand. Watt can draw contact and head to the free throw line and is a consistent scorer. She had 16 points in the Cougars’ win over Clinton. <img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-373147" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2022/01/IMG_5756-1-scaled-crop-2457x1614-1641574947-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> <strong>Hayziah Dillingham – 2026 </strong>– Dillingham is willing(ham) to do what it takes to get the Cougars in the win column. As a seventh grader, she is a textbook example of how the future remains bright in Asheville. Dillingham finished her team’s get-together with South Carolina-based Clinton with 10 points with eight of those 10 occurring in the second half of action. Dillingham can attack the rim and will draw contact, placing her at the free throw line. She also will make heads up plays. At one point, she was in position to get the ball after a Red Devil saved it from going out of bounds. She also got out quickly in transition and made a layup while getting the foul with a chance at a 3-point play.