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Submitted by Pungo Christian Academy

It has been a busy past two weeks for the Pungo Christian Academy basketball teams as they finished up regular season play.

The Lady Raiders finished 15 – 10 with a 4 – 4 conference record, for a third place finish.

This marks the first time since the 2019 – 2020 season that the Lady Raiders did not win the TIC regular season title. PCA has gone 3 – 3 over the past two weeks, with wins coming against Albemarle School, Northeast Academy and Mattamuskeet and losses coming against Ridgecroft School and Lawrence Academy.

The Lady Raiders had Lawrence Academy on the ropes at home before leading scorer and rebounder Allison Sawyer went down with a knee injury. Pungo would end up losing by 7, but have now also lost Sawyer for the season. Sawyer finishes the season with 13 double doubles on the year, which is good enough for a top 10 finish across girls basketball in the state of North Carolina and 2^nd in the entire NCISAA (1A – 4A) behind only Sarah Strong, the #1 ranked player in the country.

PCA will square off against second seed Lawrence Academy on Wednesday in the TIC Tournament, which is held at Ridgecroft School. A win could mean another rematch with currently undefeated Ridgecroft School in the championship on Thursday.

The boys finished up the regular season with a 21 – 4 record, going 6 – 2 in conference play and good enough for a second place finish for the fifth consecutive season.

The 21 wins marked the first time since 1992 – 93 that Pungo won more than 20 games in a season. The Raiders went 4 – 2 over the last two weeks, with wins coming against Albemarle School, Lawrence Academy, Mattamuskeet and Northeast Academy and losses coming against Ridgecroft School.

The Raiders came back from 10 points down against the Rams at home before Ridgecroft scored the game’s final 5 points to take home a 61 – 57 win.

When Pungo traveled to Ridgecroft School, the Raiders found themselves down 23 points in the second quarter before rallying to cut the deficit to 4 with just over two to play in the third quarter.

Ridgecroft would close out the game strong again, sending PCA home with just their fourth loss of the season.

Drew Van Staalduinen made PCA history last Friday by becoming the 10^th boys player in program history to score 1,000 points with an and-1 bucket late in the first quarter against Northeast Academy. He joins teammate Maddox Lee, along with Terry Radcliffe, Jason Baker, Greg Sawyer, Timmy Copeland, Keith Radcliffe, Cole Austin Woolard, Todd Dunbar and Allen Magee. Lee and Van Staalduinen also became just the second pair of teammate to score their 1,000^th point in the same season, joining Dunbar and Magee who were also a part of the last 20+ win season in 1992 – 93.

PCA will face third seeded Lawrence Academy on Wednesday in the semifinals of the TIC Tournament held at Ridgecroft School. A win would likely put the Raiders in a rematch against the Rams with the TIC title on the line.