When the most heralded player on last season's Bishop McGuinness girls basketball team -- senior Erinn Thompson -- broke her wrist in the first quarter of the NCHSAA 1-A title game, the Megan Buckland show started.
And it just keeps on going.
Buckland's performance in the 64-33 win over East Bladen -- 15 points, five rebounds, four assists -- was good enough for Buckland to win the MVP award and for the Villains to win their fourth straight state title.
It was also a coming-out party for Buckland, now a 6-0 junior point guard who has been steadily climbing into the recruiting spotlight.
This season she has been the guiding force of the Villains. She has put a sophomore-dominated team on her back and willed it back to the state-championship game. McGuinness (22-7) will play for another title at noon Saturday, taking on Williamston (29-0) in Chapel Hill.
Coach Brian Robinson of McGuinness said: "Megan has come out of nowhere in the last year. This time last year, she had two scholarship offers, from Elon and West Virginia."
Buckland, the MVP of the Western Regional last weekend after a 28-point, nine-rebound effort in a 68-48 win over Mitchell, now has more than 30 Division I scholarship offers, including six each from programs in the ACC and the Big East.
Buckland's recruiting picked up last summer because of her play in AAU tournaments and her tryout with USA Basketball's U-16 national team. Buckland called it her "best summer."
"I think all of it helped level-head me going into this season," she said. "Even thought we didn't win the regular season (title) or tournament (in the Northwest 2-A/1-A), we hope we will win states again. It's been an awesome experience for me.
"We definitely had a bunch of surprises this year. Honestly I think everyone on our team has had their doubts about how far we could go. Especially after we lost to North Stokes and we were 7-4. We could have gone either way. We could have gone to the bottom or risen to the top. The last couple of weeks, we have played some of the best basketball we have (played), this year at least."
In last week's regional final against Mitchell, Robinson stuck Buckland with the job of guarding Lakin Norris, a 2,000-points plus career scorer. When the final horn sounded, Norris had only 10 points.
"Talk about mentally tough, she doesn't believe in the word tired," Robinson said. "She accepts the challenge of guarding the best player and not letting her offense suffer. If for some reason she is a little off, she doesn't let it affect the other parts of her game. She is the perfect leader for our team. That's why we are where we are because she is there for everyone else."
Buckland's long arms and ability to play hard consistently make her a strong defender. Against Williamston, she will use her defensive skills against Katie Paschal, a 5-8 guard who has signed with East Carolina, a rare 3,000-points scorer in high school.
"My playing time all started around my defense," Buckland said. "Defense has always been a strong part of my game, at least I think so. I love playing defense, and I think that helped me this past weekend (against Norris) to get in her head.
"I was taller and a little bit longer than her, and I think that messed her up. I am looking forward to this weekend. I hope I get the chance to guard the girl from Williamston and hopefully shut her down like I did last weekend."
mlinker@wsjournal.com
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