After finishing the regular season with a 21-1 record, the Grafton High School girls’ basketball team takes a share of the Bay Rivers District crown.

Grafton remains one of the hottest teams in the region after wrapping up its regular season with one loss. The Lady Clippers have won their last 12 games with their only loss coming to the other co-champions, of the district, Warhill High School. Grafton was able to avenge that loss as the two teams met again at the beginning of February. With how the Lady Clippers are rolling into the postseason, Coach Tommy Bayse feels good about how his team is playing.

“We knew coming back this season we were going to be really good,” Bayse said. “We had our whole starting five coming back and had added some others. We had set one of the goals to win the district, and to be able to win 21 games is a great accomplishment.”

Bayse credits the senior leadership on the team, guiding the Lady Clippers throughout the season. Nyah Chisolm was among the top, having a strong season for Grafton and eclipsing 1,000 career points before the season was over. Next up for Grafton is regional play. The Lady Clippers will have a guaranteed top-two seed in the Class 4A region. They know how tough their region is, featuring potential contenders for the Class 4 state title, and Bayse feels the way the Lady Clippers have been playing as of late will give them more confidence heading into the playoffs.

“We are going to be working hard on handling pressure and the different types of things we will see from these teams,” Bayse said. “Our confidence is up, but we realize that we are going to have to take our game up another notch to be able to get some of these teams.”