North Carolina
North Carolina crowns basketball state champions
The high school basketball season is complete in the Tar Heel State, with champions in four classifications crowned by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.
Here is a look at what happened.
4-A
North Mecklenburg 59, New Hanover 56
Carson Evans scored 24 points and Chadlyn Traylor had 22 as North Mecklenburg rallied to beat New Hanover for the second year in a row in the state championship game.
Ashton Pierce had 8 points and 7 rebounds for the Vikings, who finished the season with a 30-3 record.
New Hanover stormed to a 14-0 lead. The Vikings rallied, cutting the lead to seven in the second quarter. They went ahead in the third quarter.
Rodmik Allen led the Wildcats with 14 points while Kellum Brown had 13 points and C.J. Kornegay had 10 points.
It was the second straight season of heartbreak for the Wildcats, who are 62-2 with both losses coming to North Mecklenburg in the state championship game.
3-A
Ben L. Smith 64, Southern Durham 62 (OT)
Jyi Dawkins scored 29 points, including two free throws in the final seconds of overtime, as the Golden Eagles prevailed.
Dawkins, who had 7 rebounds and made 8-of-9 free throws, was named MVP.
The Golden Eagles’ Tayshawn Mann had forced overtime on a driving layup with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.
Kenny Miller Jr. had 13 points and 5 rebounds for the Golden Eagles. Mann had 6 points, 4 assists and 4 steals.
A.J. Morman Jr. and Jackson Keith each scored 23 points to lead Southern Durham.
2-A
Reidsville 71, Northwood 54
The nationally ranked Rams capped off the season with a 60-game winning streak and two consecutive state championships. Reidsville is 90-1 over the last three seasons, with the loss coming in the 2023 state championship game.
Dionte Neal led the Rams with 24 points. Kendre Harrison, the Rams’ 6-foot-7, 243-pound junior forward who has committed to Oregon for football, had 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks.
Cam Fowler led Northwood with 27 points and 8 rebounds.
1-A
Corvian Community 58, Southern Wake Academy 55 (OT)
R.J. Moore scored a game-high 26 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, as the Cardinals won the state championship. Moore, a 6-foot-5 sophomore guard, was named MVP.
Corvian (25-7) battled from behind to win its first state championship.
Malachi McCutcheon added 15 points for the Cardinals.
Sophomore guard Kobe Plata led the Lions (29-5) with 19 points.
4-A
Lake Norman 43, Wakefield 41
Lake Norman won its first state championship in dramatic fashion, defeating Wakefield 43-41 when Rayana Minard made a bucket at the buzzer. A pass from Alexis Shehan set up the game-winner.
Shehan led the Wildcats with 13 points. Minard scored 10 points and was named MVP.
Lake Norman (30-1) lost only to Hebron Christian Academy, a nationally ranked Georgia school.
3-A
Western Alamance 76, Stuart Cramer 58
Western Alamance used balance to overcome a sensational individual effort by Stuart Cramer star Oshauna Holland.
Senior guard Tina Bowers scored 26 points and grabbed 9 rebounds to lead the way for Western Alamance. Another senior guard, Allie Sykes, had 22 points and 5 assists.
That was enough to offset the 5-foot-8 Holland, who scored nearly every point for the Storm. Holland finished with 49 points, making 15-of-29 field goal attempts. She was 17-of-17 from the free throw line.
It was close early but Western Alamance built a 20-point lead by the third quarter and coasted to victory.
Western Alamance (28-4) dominated in the playoffs, winning by no less than 14 points in the Warriors’ six games.
2-A
Southeast Alamance 43, North Wilkes 33
Southeast Alamance won’t even have a senior class until the 2025-26 school year but that didn’t stop the Stallions from winning a state championship in the new school’s second year.
Clara LaChappelle led the way with 14 points and 10 rebounds, earning MVP honors. Shaniya Paylor had 12 points and Natalie Lopez had 9.
Ralee Bare led North Wilkes with 16 points but
1-A
Cherokee 84, East Bladen 48
Defending champion Cherokee turned a close game into a rout in the second half with a 41-8 run.
Whitney Rogers led the Braves with 33 points. Dvdaya Swimmer posted a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. She also had 6 assists and 5 steals.
Laila Smith led East Bladen with 24 points while Nene Ward had 12 points and 8 rebounds.
Cherokee (28-2) lost only to nationally ranked Georgia school Hebron Christian and Winston-Salem Prep’s national team.
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North Carolina
Former inmate buys NC prison to help others who have served time
North Carolina
NC Foundation at center of I-Team Troubleshooter investigation could face contempt charge
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — New details in an I-Team investigation into a Durham foundation accused of not paying its employees.
The North Carolina Department of Labor filed a motion in court to try to force the Courtney Jordan Foundation, CJF America, to provide the pay records after the state agency received more than 30 complaints from former employees about not getting paid.
The ABC11 I-Team first told you about CJF and its problems paying employees in July. The foundation ran summer camps in Durham and Raleigh, and at the time, more than a dozen workers said they didn’t get paid, or they got paychecks that bounced. ABC11 also talked to The Chicken Hut, which didn’t get paid for providing meals to CJF Durham’s summer camps, but after Troubleshooter Diane Wilson’s involvement, The Chicken Hut did get paid.
The NC DOL launched their investigation, and according to this motion filed with the courts, since June thirty one former employees of CJF filed complaints with the agency involving pay issues. Court documents state that, despite repeated attempts from the wage and hour bureau requesting pay-related documents from CJF, and specifically Kristen Picot, the registered agent of CJF, CJF failed to comply.
According to this motion, in October, an investigator with NC DOL was contacted by Picot, and she requested that the Wage and Hour Bureau provide a letter stating that CJF was cooperating with the investigation and that repayment efforts were underway by CJF. Despite several extensions, the motion says Picot repeatedly exhibited a pattern of failing to comply with the Department of Labor’s investigation. The motion even references an ITEAM story on CJFand criminal charges filed against its executives.
The NC DOL has requested that if CJF and Picot fail to produce the requested documentation related to the agency’s investigation, the employer be held in civil contempt for failure to comply. Wilson asked the NC Department of Labor for further comment, and they said, “The motion to compel speaks for itself. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
ABC11 Troubleshooter reached out to Picot and CJF America, but no one has responded. At Picot’s last court appearance on criminal charges she faces for worthless checks, she had no comment then.
Out of all the CJF employees we heard from, only one says he has received partial payment.
Copyright © 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
North Carolina
N.C. Democrat runs as Republican to shed light on gerrymandering
Kate Barr is a Democrat.
But when voters in North Carolina’s 14th Congressional District open their ballots in the March primary they’ll find an “R” next to her name.
She is literally a RINO or Republican In Name Only.
Barr considers herself a Democrat but said she’s running as a Republican to make a point about gerrymandering.
“Fundamentally… I hate gerrymandering. That is pretty much my core motivation for everything I do in politics,” Barr told Spectrum News 1.
The district, west of Charlotte, is solidly Republican.
The current congressman won by 16 points last election.
Barr said it speaks to just how gerrymandered North Carolina is. State Republican lawmakers recently approved a congressional map that favors Republicans in 11 of the state’s 14 congressional districts.
That’s in a state that only voted for President Donald Trump by three points in 2024 and elected a Democrat for governor.
“When the North Carolina state legislature passed the new congressional maps that further gerrymandered this state it became clear there has to be a political price for this behavior,” Barr said.
This is not the first unusual campaign for Barr.
In 2024 she ran as a Democrat in a district that heavily favored Republicans. The focus again was to draw attention to gerrymandering.
Her motto was “Kate Barr can’t win.”
She did not win, losing by 30 points.
But Barr was encouraged by some of the results she saw and in November launched her campaign for Congress.
This time she decided to run as a Republican.
She’s hoping that gives her an edge because in North Carolina voters not registered with either major party, known as unaffiliated, are the largest voting block in the state, and can participate in the Democrat or Republican primaries.
“Voters understand that the way to have a say is to choose which primary is actually going to elect their leader and vote in that primary,” Barr said. “I can absolutely win in this one… because primary turnout is so low it just doesn’t take that many people showing up and saying we’ve had enough to unseat an incumbent.”
Barr faces former North Carolina Speaker of the House and incumbent Republican congressman Tim Moore. His campaign told Spectrum News 1 that “Kate Barr’s latest stunt is an insult to Republican voters. Folks know a far-left fraud when they see one, and she doesn’t belong in our primary.”
Whether she wins or not, Barr hopes to encourage a fix to gerrymandering, an issue that’s front and center in North Carolina and around the country.
“Gerrymandering is wrong no matter which party is doing it, and we need to put an end to it. Period,” Barr said. “The goal, end result, is to have an independent commission in every state made up of citizens.”
Follow us on Instagram at spectrumnews1nc for news and other happenings across North Carolina.
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