WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Call them the magnificent seven.

Seven of Lake Norman’s girls basketball players were on the team, playing important roles as the Wildcats were the state runner-up two years ago.

Give the seven their much-awaited rings.

Lake Norman won the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4A girls basketball championship 43-41 over Wakefield in Saturday’s final at Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum.

In the final seconds of a tied game, Rayana Minard scored a backdoor layup as time ran out with an assist from Alexis Shehan to pull off the win.

Kelsey Rhyne, another one of the seven, caught the inbound pass then threw it to Minard, who did a dribble handoff to Addison Sirianni. Sirianni bounced it to Shehan in the high post, and Minard faked coming to Shehan for a dribble handoff and instead sprinted for the low block, where she collected it and dropped it off the glass.

“We executed a play that we’ve really been able to play all year and got the action that we wanted to off of it,” Lake Norman coach McKenzie Graham said.

Given how each team’s regional finals went, it was predicted to be a battle of pace with Wakefield more methodical and Lake Norman more run-and-gun.

But roles were reversed in the final minutes, where Lake Norman (30-1), which entered the game with 210 3-pointers on the year but had only hit two in this game, found itself grinding its opponent to a halt.

Wakefield trailed by two, 35-33, after three quarters but didn’t score until 2:23 remaining.

The Wildcats, rather than hoisting away from 3, were content to milk the clock while the Wolverines (26-4) were trying desperately to get a turnover and quick basket.

A full court press by Wakefield caused a throwaway, which Lyla Bagwell later converted into a 3 with 1:24 left to cut the lead to 41-38.

Lake Norman threw it away on the next possession. Wakefield called a timeout, then set up another Bagwell 3 that tied it at 41-all with 31 seconds to go. That set up one last possession by Lake Norman with the game tied at 41-all, setting up the Wildcats’ winning play.

“My girls fought, they fought really hard. Even when we got down, we didn’t get rattled. We came right back, tied the game up,” Wakefield coach Jason Lee said. “We needed that last stop, but basketball happens. That’s why the game is played.”

In the early stages, Lake Norman had its way and led 14-9 after the first quarter. Wakefield took a brief lead in the second and cut the lead to 26-21 at halftime.

“We remembered what (that loss) felt like and it really drove us in practice every day,” Rhyne said. “This year, it was now or never.”

On Wednesday, second-seeded Lake Norman defeated top-seeded McDowell 58-52 in the 4A West regional final while second-seeded Wakefield defeated top-seeded Hoggard 31-23 in the 4A East regional final. Those games were also at “the Joel” as part of the final four format.

The NCHSAA has three awards after every game: the Kay Yow MVP to the game’s overall best performance, followed by East and West MVPs.

Minard, who comes off the bench for Lake Norman, was the Kay Yow MVP with 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting and three steals. Alexis Shehan was the West MVP with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Wakefield’s Bagwell was the East MVP. She finished with 13 points (4-of-10 shooting) and six rebounds.

Before the game, each team honored its sportsmanship award winner for the season: Addison Sirianni from Lake Norman and Jaya Hamilton-Jordan from Wakefield.

QUICK BOX SCORE
LKN 14-12-9-8 43
WKF 9-12-12-8 41

Lake Norman: Kaiya Bond 6, Kelsey Rhyne 5, Rayana Minard 10, Alexis Shehan 13, Samantha Shehan 9
Wakefield: Sydney Conti 6, Lyla Bagwell 13, Nicole Amend 2, Heaven Briggs 1, Jaya Hamilton 10, Maddison McIntyre 8, Aly Schaffer 3,