Cannon School girls win The Observer’s 2023-24 Sweet 16 basketball championship
Cannon School is the 2023-24 Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 girls’ basketball champion.
The Cougars beat state power Providence Day, 62-51, in the N.C. Independent Schools 4A state final in February to win the second girls’ basketball state championship in school history. Cannon also won the 4A title in 2021.
Cannon will get a large banner to hang in its gym.
NCHSAA 4A state finalist Charlotte Catholic was second in the poll followed by 4A regional semifinalist Myers Park.
Cannon coach Kelvin Drakeford is a 2008 graduate of the school and said building a power is personal to him.
He said he’ll lose one senior starter next season and return everyone else.
“I think this is the beginning of something, of something special,” Drakeford said. “I think we have great leadership to show our freshmen the ropes and our juniors, Maya McCorkle and Khloe Thompson, have been great about taking them under their wing and showing them this is how we are going to do things at Cannon, and the freshmen have bought in, and I think they want to do whatever it takes to touch the floor and for us to win. I am really happy where we’re going.”
▪ The Sweet 16, which began in the 1984-85 season, ranks the top teams in the media company’s coverage area, which includes schools in the following counties: Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Gaston, Iredell, Lancaster, Lincoln, Union and York. Rankings are based on strength of schedule, strength of a classification, team success within that classification and head-to-head competition between teams ranked in the Sweet 16. It does not consider how ranked teams would fare against each other — or other unranked teams — unless those teams actually meet.
This story was originally published March 28, 2024 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Cannon School girls win The Observer’s 2023-24 Sweet 16 basketball championship."
