By DAN BISER

GREENVILLE - Just after the final second of overtime ticked off the clock Saturday afternoon, Whiteville High senior Shannon McCallum stood near the center of the court where she was overcome by tears of disbelief and disappointment.

After four years in which she developed into possibly the best girls basketball player in Columbus County history, her high-school playing career had come to an end. Her game-high 33 points and nine rebounds had not been quite enough as her team lost for the first time this season. Prior to Saturday, Coach Keith Jordan’s Lady Wolfpack had run to 25 straight wins and had been ranked the state’s top 2A team for most of the season.

The Farmville Central Lady Jaguars led by the twin-sister duo of Megan and Kim Zullo outscored the Lady Wolfpack 10-5 in the overtime period to take a 68-63 victory for the Eastern N.C. 2A girls basketball championship at the Rose High School gym.

The Zullo twins combined for 49 of the Jaguar points as Farmville Central put its season record at 25-3. Megan Zullo was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Coach Denitra Hayes’ Lady Jaguars will go against Western N.C. champion Salisbury (27-2) this Saturday at noon for the state 2A championship at N.C. State University’s Reynolds Coliseum.

McCallum, who has been an All-Stater since her sophomore season and has signed to play at the University of South Carolina, brought her team back from a 32-22 halftime deficit to pull within one point 42-41 at the end of three quarters. She almost single-handedly put the game into overtime with a four-point effort on a put-back lay-up. Then a quick steal for another lay-up tied the game at 58 in the closing seconds.

“A loss in a game like this is always hard to swallow,” said WHS coach Keith Jordan, “but we went up against a very good team and didn’t quite get it done. We didn’t have a good first half but our girls played their hearts out in the second half and did everything but win it.”

Jordan called Shannon McCallum “the best player I have ever coached.

“She can do it all and today showed what kind of an impact player she is,” Jordan said. “Even though we lost, she gave an outstanding effort.”

Whiteville played virtually the entire game without starting junior center Portia Baldwin, who dislocated her shoulder in the first half of the Lady Wolfpack’s 59-40 regional semi-final victory over First Flight. Baldwin, a three-year starter, played for a couple of minutes, but her injury kept her from performing anywhere near the top of her game.

Also starting guard Talena Faison played with her shooting hand heavily taped to stabilize a broken finger. Faison, who did not start the game, and sophomore Paige McCallum each scored 10 points and joined Shannon McCallum on the All-Tournament team. Paige McCallum, Shannon’s younger sister, played virtually all of the second half with four fouls. She fouled out in overtime.

“We weren’t at full strength but we still had to play,” said Jordan, who said that Paige McCallum had told him shortly before the game that she wasn’t feeling well. “We went after it with what we had. We asked everybody to step up.”

Jordan said that his team did all it could to survive the first half.

“I can’t say what our problem was the first half, but we couldn’t get much to happen,” he said. “They have three good shooters (the Zullo sisters and wing Brittney Talbot) and we’re not used to defending good shooters on both sides of court.”

“We never got into our game the entire first half,” Jordan added.

Senior Ashley Geathers opened the second half for Whiteville by banking in a 3-pointer and Paige McCallum added six straight points to ignite a 13-2 surge and tie the score at 34 with 3:38 left in the third quarter.

A seven-foot jumper by Shannon McCallum with 4:10 left in the game gave Whiteville a 48-46 advantage and its first lead since the game’s opening minutes.

But Megan Zullo, who has signed to play for N.C. State, and Kim Zullo led the Lady Jaguars in fending off the Lady Wolfpack surge with some strong shooting from the field and foul line.

It appeared the Lady Jaguars had the game in hand in the final seconds when Shannon McCallum rebounded her own attempt of a three-point shot and put it in for a lay-up. She then intercepted an inbounds pass and quickly converted it for a layup to tie the score at 58 with just over 10 seconds remaining.

The WHS defense kept Farmville Central from getting off a shot and the game went into overtime.

Two big baskets by Kim Zullo gave the Lady Jaguars the first five points of the overtime but Shannon McCallum hit three foul shots to stay in range.

Two free throws by Megan Zullo gave the Farmville team a 64-61 lead. Megan Zullo then made a steal that she converted into a layup for a five-point lead.

Shannon McCallum sank two foul shots with 27.5 left, but Kim Zullo answered with two foul shots with 15.4 seconds left to round out the scoring.

Farmville Central went to the foul line 24 times, making 17, while Whiteville had only nine attempts from the line, connecting on seven.

Kim Zullo scored 26 points and Megan Zullo tallied 23. While Megan Zullo was named the tournament’s MVP and Kim Zullo was also named to the all-tournament team.

Coach Hayes said that Shannon McCullum

non McCallum was the best all-around player her team had gone against and credited the WHS senior for bringing her team back in the second half.

“You really have to know where she is on the court because her play can hurt from anywhere,” Hayes said. “She can hit in the threes and then beat through the lane.”

The Eastern N.C. finals appearance marked the best-ever finish for a WHS girls teams. The Lady Wolfpack had advanced the regional semi-finals in 2004 and 1983.

In Shannon McCallum’s four years as a starter the Lady Wolfpack amassed 89 victories and 15 losses. Four of those losses came by way of forfeit during the 2004 season when WHS had an ineligible player on its roster.

The WHS girls squad won three of the last four Waccamaw Conference regular-season championships and all four the conference tournament championship. The Lady Wolfpack also won the last two Robeson County Shootout tournament titles.

FARMVILLE CENTRAL (68): Talbot 7, Smith 7, Newkirk 5, K. Zullo 26, M. Zullo 23.

WHITEVILLE (63): Smith 3, Karmen Jordan 4, Faison 10, S. McCallum 33, Geathers 3. P. McCallum 3.