Terra Ceia hoops teams stay hot going into postseason

Published 2:51 am Thursday, February 13, 2025

By Jason O. Boyd

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TERRA CEIA, N.C. — The Terra Ceia boys’ basketball team is playing some of its best basketball of the season. The same can be said for the girls’ team, too.

Both squads wrapped up regular-season play last Thursday with easy wins over Ahoskie Christian on Senior Night. Dustin Carrow and Lakin Van Essendelft were two of the seniors who were recognized before the varsity boys played. Both also played a role in keeping their teams rolling in the right direction as the postseason goes.

The Knights won 88-42 in the boys’ contest for their 16th straight win. The Terra Ceia girls won for the ninth time in their past 10 games and picked up a 48-26 win. Both teams wrapped up first place in the Mid-Atlantic Christian Athletic Association.

“It’s selfless basketball,” Terra Ceia boys coach Mark Cagle said. “Sharing the ball, loving each other, and sharing the ball, and team basketball.

“Like I’ve told them, there’s some teams that have a lot of good players, but they’re not a good team. I mean, you see that in some of the ACC schools. They’ve got plenty of really good players on their squad, but they’re not a good team because they don’t know how to play together. And our team, they play together now, three years together.”

Ryan Ange had a big night on the floor, scoring 31 points. He’s the team’s leading scorer and was part of an offense that led by more than 20 points in the second quarter and never let up. Seth Meijer had 10 of his 14 points in the second quarter as the Knights (18-2, 11-1) led 38-20 at the half.

“We’ve been through some hard times together, which helps, and we’ve been through some good times together,” Cagle said. “And we value our defense and moving the ball. And that’s what’s really been our success.”

Terra Ceia’s girls and Ahoskie had some struggles in the first half of their game. However, the Knights (11-4, 9-1) pulled away in the second quarter thanks to scoring from each of the six players who dressed. That included Hannah Van Essendelft, who hit a 3-pointer that gave the Knights a 20-4 advantage midway through the second quarter.

“I think things went really well tonight,” Terra Ceia coach Jen Grace DeHoog said. “When we played Ahoskie, it was a very tough game and came down to the wire. This was a big win for us.

“(The Knights) really did a better job of playing as a team tonight. Our passing was better and things like that. We are feeling pretty confident about the tournament starting (this) weekend.”

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