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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - Winter sports have arrived as the Cherryville Ironmen women's and men's basketball teams tipped off their seasons this week. Coaches Carrie Dalton and Antonio Griggs return to the helm to lead their charges. Dalton's team, despite having four seniors, is young with six freshmen on the current roster. This mix should be enough, though, to provide experience while mentoring the younger players. Griggs has a more experienced team. Six seniors and five juniors bring plenty of experience to go along with three sophomores. The two teams wasted no time jumping into the action with three consecutive evenings of games. Two of those were hosted at home in historic Nixon Gym.
Cherryville Ironmen Basketball - Nixon Gym - November 19th, 2025
Mason Beam (WNN)
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
11-19-2025
Ladies Game: The Lady Ironmen ushered in the 2025-2026 season as they hosted Morganton's North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Cherryville jumped out of the gate with the first nine points of the game being scored by Emily Allen. She was also responsible for the first fourteen points scored by CHS. The first quarter was all Cherryville as the Lady Dragons could only manage five points to Cherryville's 15. At halftime, the Lady Ironmen held a 22-15 lead. Emily Allen was the offensive leader, ending the game in much the same way as she began, as she nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to preserve the 44-32 victory for the Lady Ironmen. Senior Raylei Gidney missed the game after suffering a leg injury the previous week during a scrimmage game. Emily Allem led all scorers with 30 points, Jenna Anthony added 8, and Kate Bookout scored 7. For the NCSSM Lady Dragons, Amalia Bordoloi scored 19 points, Vivian Lin 9, Amukaha Sudathi 3, and Emery Miller rounded out the scoring with 1 point.
Cherryville Ironmen Basketball - Nixon Gym - November 19th, 2025
Mason Beam (WNN)
Men's Game: The Ironmen came out of the gate with the trademark strong defense of Coach Griggs. After Cherryville took an early lead, the Dragons answered by turning up the tempo. They would take a sizeable lead, and the first quarter would see them leading 21-12. CHS started crashing the boards as they turned up the defense, pushed the tempo, and began chipping away. The Ironmen outscored NCSSM 13-10 in the second quarter, closing the gap to 31-25 at halftime. In the second half, the Dragons got a little too aggressive and began committing fouls. Unfortunately, Cherryville could not capitalize on the charity stripe and kept the game closer than it should have been, as they went 9 for 31 from the free-throw line. The Ironmen countered the free-throw trouble by creating turnovers. Late in the fourth quarter, the Ironmen cut the lead down to four points; however, Bransen Pittman began to score at will for the Dragons, seemingly. Cherryville's Paxton Pruett started to take over the scoring for CHS.
Cherryville Ironmen Basketball - Nixon Gym - November 19th, 2025
Mason Beam (WNN)
Talon Dalton would tie the game on a layup at 49-49 with 2:42 left in the game. At one point in the final quarter, Cherryville trailed by twelve. Talon Dalton scored on a fast break to put Cherryville up by one with just seconds remaining on the clock. Nate Gutschall took the inbound pass for NCSSM and threw the ball the length of the court. Narian Hopper intercepted the ball as time expired, giving Cherryville a 60-59 victory. Leading scorers for Cherryville were Cole Kelly with 18 points, Paxton Pruett with 15, Talon Dalton with 14, and Darius Pullen with 9. The Dragons were led by Bransen Pittman's 21 points and Nate Gutschall's 10.
Cherryville Ironmen Basketball - Nixon Gym - November 19th, 2025
Mason Beam (WNN)
North Gaston Wildcats
11-20-2025
Ladies Game: The Lady Ironmen hosted their second game of the week as they entertained the Wildcats of North Gaston in Nixon Gym. The game began as a shooting duel between Cherryville's Emily Allen and North Gaston's Jaleila Littlejohn as the two young ladies combined to score the first sixteen points of the contest. The ladies of Cherryville would lead 15-10, and at halftime, the game was tied 22-22. In a close battle at the end of three quarters, CHS would hold a 39-35 lead. In the fourth quarter, the Lady Wildcats pulled away as Littlejohn put on a scoring clinic. Cherryville could not find an answer for her offensive output. North Gaston outscored Cherryville 23-5 in the fourth on their way to a 62-40 win. Cherryville dropped to 1-2 and North Gaston improved to 2-1. Leading the way for the Lady Ironmen was Senior Emily Allen with 18 points, and Freshman Jenny Brown contributed 13. Jaleila Littlejohn led North Gaston with 34 points, and Isabella Symonds scored 12 points.
Cherryville Ironmen Basketball - Nixon Gym - November 19th, 2025
Mason Beam (WNN)
Men's Game: The first half saw Cherryville take an early lead in a tight ball game. The Ironmen led 16-9 in the first quarter as they pushed the tempo and played tight defense. The second quarter was intense, with the play getting a little chippy at times. Cherryville was strong off the glass and secured rebounds. At halftime, they would trail the Wildcats 32-30. North Gaston made the correct adjustments at halftime and came out strong in the third quarter. They figured out the Ironmen's defense and went on a scoring run, ending the third quarter with a 62-46 lead. The fourth quarter saw the Wildcats continue their run, as they closed out the game with a 92-64 victory. The Ironmen dropped to 1-1, and North Gaston improved to 3-0. Leading the scoring for Cherryville were Paxton Pruett with 12 points, Cole Kelly with 10, and Talon Dalton with 9. The Wildcats had a balanced attack with Aiden Smith leading the way with 18 points and 4 assists, Payton McRae scored 16, Tavier Medlin scored 14, Blake Mitchell scored 14, Carter Mason scored 12, and Aden Thompson scored 10. Jalen Howard added 13 rebounds.
Cherryville Ironmen Basketball - Nixon Gym - November 19th, 2025
Mason Beam (WNN)
Lake Lure Classical Academy
11-21-2025
Ladies Game: A trip to Lake Lure was the scene of the third game of the week. The Lady Ironmen played a close first half, leading in the first quarter 9-8 and trailing at halftime 20-22. The Lady Raptors of Lake Lure Classical Academy opened a close game by outscoring the Lady Ironmen 30-10 in the second half. The 52-30 loss dropped the Lady Ironmen to 1-2 on the season. The Lady Raptors improved to 3-1. Leading the attack for LLCA was Landry Mize, shooting 42% from the field with 20 points and 7 rebounds. Gynnifer Dorn had 14 rebounds and 4 steals. There were no statistics available for the Lady Ironmen.
Men's Game: The Ironmen secured their second victory of the young season to improve their record to 2-1 by defeating Lake Lure Classical Academy 67-59. The Raptors dropped to 1-3.
Coming Up Games
The much-improved Cherryville team will play host to Pinnacle Classical Academy in Nixon Gym on Tuesday evening, November 25th. This will be the only game this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday. The boy's JV team will play at 4:30 pm, followed by the Lady Ironmen at approximately 6 pm, and the Ironmen will close out the night with an approximate 7:30 pm tip-off.
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