Christmas came two days early for Mount Airy girls basketball coach Angela Mayfield.
Mayfield celebrated career win No. 100 on Dec. 23. The Lady Bears were competing in the final day of the Danny Jonas Christmas Tournament, with a 61-26 win over Northwood (Va.) lifting Mayfield to the century mark.
A 1988 graduate of Mount Airy High School, Mayfield returned to the basketball program in 2009 as an assistant coach to Howard Mayo. She was promoted to head coach following the 2015-16 season when Mayo took a job in his native Virginia.
It took less than two seasons for Mayfield to pile up 50 wins. The 2016-17 Bears finished 30-2 and won the Northwest 1A Conference Title, 1A West Regional Title and 1A State Championship. After returning all five starters from the previous year, the 2017-18 Lady Bears finished 27-2 and repeated as 1A State Champs. This time, all 27 wins came by at least 11 points – including a 69-32 victory in the state championship.
Mayfield was honored by the N.C. High School Athletic Association as the 2018 Doris Howard Female Coach of the Year Award in May of that year. The award is one of seven statewide awards presented to those “who have done the most for high school athletics.” State awards are presented to a male coach, female coach, athletic director, principal, superintendent, sports medicine representative and a media representative.
Mayfield currently boasts an overall record of 100-34, a conference record of 42-12 and a playoff record of 14-2. Since she took over as head coach, Mount Airy has competed in four conference tournament championships (no tournament was held in 2020-21) and never finished below third in the conference.
Since 2017, Mount Airy has boasted an NW1A Player of the Year (Jo Snow 2017 and 18) and a District Player of the Year (Snow 2017), put three players on the All-District team (Snow 2017 and 18, Sawyers 2018, 19 and 20, Addie Phipps 2021), put two players on the All-State team (Snow in 2017 and 18) and had a player compete in the East-West Game (Sawyers 2019).
The 2021-22 Lady Bears currently sit at 3-4 overall and 2-0 in the NW1A Conference.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com