Completed Event: Women's Basketball versus UCLA on March 29, 2026 , Loss , 58, to, 70
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Final
Women's Basketball
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Joy Cheek Named North Carolina Women's Basketball Player Of The Year
3/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Joy Cheek felt the pressure building from within to live up to her lofty reputation while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery.
She figured a way to handle it just in time for the postseason.
Cheek, a Parade and McDonald's All-American who is heading to Duke, stepped up her game in the playoffs to lead South Mecklenburg to the state championship. Now, to cap her stellar career, Cheek has been voted The Associated Press prep women's basketball player of the year for North Carolina.
Cheek earned 14 of 23 votes from sports writers across the state in results released Friday. Western Harnett's Trinity Bursey, a North Carolina recruit, finished second with seven votes.
The 6-foot-1 senior averaged 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks to help the Sabres win the first Class 4-A title for a Mecklenburg County team in 20 years. But the way Cheek elevated her game in the postseason was most impressive; she averaged 23.4 points in the five games, ending with a 22-point effort that made her MVP of the state finals.
"People come out (to games) to see the Joy Cheek they had heard about," she said. "That was pressure I put on myself, that I had to show up every night. But then again, you're playing for yourself. That's when you forget about what everyone else says and just play the way you know how to play."
Things were a little more difficult early in the season. She was runner-up for AP player of the year as a junior, but had surgery in July to repair a torn labrum in her right shoulder that had given her trouble since her freshman year. That forced her to spend a month with her arm in a sling, followed by two months of physical therapy. She eventually returned to the court in December, yet couldn't help but feel a little off.
Her coach could tell his star was uncomfortable, even if he never heard her complain.
"I wouldn't say she was pressing it, but she was trying to live up to the hype of being an All-American," Troy Gaston said. "She didn't say (the shoulder) was bothering her, but it was obvious it was something she was trying to work out.
"She never blamed that. That's just not Joy. She just tries to get it done regardless."
She did just that after the team's loss to Matthews Butler in the conference tournament championship, which ended South Mecklenburg's 39-game home winning streak. She scored 25 points in the playoff opener against McDowell County, followed by 29 against South Caldwell to reach the regionals.
She then scored 25 in the win against High Point Central followed by a 16-point effort against Charlotte Harding in the regional championship to reach the state final, where she led South Mecklenburg past Apex 60-53 two weeks ago.
"I just relaxed and let the game come to me," Cheek said. "Before, I was wishing I'd play a certain way and was rushing it. But after that Butler game, that's when we finally got it together and when I got it together.
"We knew we were capable of doing it. We wanted to do it for ourselves and our school and bring a championship back."
Tuesday, March 31
Tuesday, March 31
Tuesday, March 31
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