North Rowan and Winston-Salem Prep squared off in a prize fight Saturday night in a rematch of last season’s 1A regional semifinal.
In a boys game that featured four Cavalier technical fouls and two first-quarter ejections, the Phoenix delivered the last blow to notch a 71-61 victory.
“I thought we played extremely hard,” North head coach Andrew Mitchell said. “We banged the boards with them. And if you take out the technical fouls and the other little things, we played well.”
The Phoenix used a 22-point fourth quarter to pull away after only leading 49-47 at the end of three.
Prep’s Mike Hughes led all scorers with 27 points, while Jalen Sanders (22 points) and Michael Bowman (19) paced the Cavaliers.
North’s Michael Connor was ejected coming off a career-high 27 points Friday night against Lexington.
“They have everybody back and we were still right there with them,” Mitchell added. “I think they were expecting to beat us a lot worse than they did.
“We felt like we could win the game going in. We believe we can play anybody tough.”
North will look for revenge when Prep makes the return trip to Spencer on Jan. 18.

NORTH (61) — Sanders 22, Bowman 19, Handy 13, Tatum 4, Scott 2, Walker 1, Archie, Billingsley, Hillie, Connor, Bates, Mungin, Nelson.
WINSTON-SALEM PREP (71) — Hughes 27, Collins 12, Hollingsworth 11, Simmons 10, Roseboro 6, Lipscomb 3, Harrison 2, Neal, Patrick, Stevenson, Tate, McClellan.

N. Rowan 14 12 21 14 — 61
W-S Prep 12 14 23 22 — 71
Playing without leading scorer Brielle Blaire, North Rowan suffered its first defeat of the season Saturday night with a 51-44 setback at Winston-Salem Prep.
“It was very tight for the whole game,” North coach Brian Lytton said. “I am disappointed in how much we turned the ball over and how many layups we missed — those two things alone would have won us the game.”
The Cavaliers trailed just 20-16 at the break of a defensive struggle and by only two (31-29) at the end of three.
After North took the lead briefly in the fourth, the Phoenix pushed ahead and held on for the victory.
Nycieko Dixon led all scorers with 18 points, while Demeria Robinson added 14 for the Cavaliers.
But a 14-for-23 effort from the free-throw line doomed the Cavs in a close game.
With Blaire sidelined, Lytton believes this is an opportunity for other players to step up and fill the void.
“With Brielle out, it’s a great opportunity for other girls to rise up,” he said.
North and Prep will square off again on Jan. 18 when the Phoenix comes to Spencer.
NORTH (44) — Dixon 18, Robinson 14, Washington 5, Blaire 4, Farmer 3, Russell, White.
WINSTON-SALEM PREP (51) — Robinson 14, Barton 12, Wolfe 9, Clayton 8, Ceasar 4, Searcy 2, Tibbs 2, Michaux.

N. Rowan 9 7 13 15 — 44
W-S Prep 12 8 11 20 — 51
Livingstone women beat Virginia Union for a 64-48 victory at New Trent Gym on Saturday.
Alexis Hicks scored 14 to lead the Blue Bears (6-6, 1-1), and Taylor Daniels (13), Cierra York (12) and Ashley Walker 10 joined her in double figures.
Livingstone out-rebounded the visitors 60-36.
Ashle Freeman scored 20 to lead the Panthers (3-7, 0-2).

VA. UNION (48) — Freeman 20, Tatum 8, Brown 6, Barrett 5, Evans 4, Walker 3, Dancy 2.
LIVINGSTONE (64) — Hicks 14, Daniels 13, York 12, Walker 10, Lepzem 9, Evans 3, Tolliver 2, Foster 1, Coe, Holloway.

Va. Union 20 28 — 48
Livingstone 26 38 — 64
Catawba’s women won another SAC league game on Saturday afternoon. The Indians led all the way and beat Anderson 67-59 at Goodman Gym.
Catawba is tied for first in the SAC with Carson-Newman and Wingate.
Catawba (7-3, 5-1) won the rebounding (18-11 on offensive boards) and turnover battles (23-17), and that compensated for shooting just 35.5 percent from the floor and 6-for-24 on 3-pointers.
Mallary Clay did shoot well, going 6-for-11 from the field and 6-for-6 at the foul line and scored 18 points. Jelena Ciric scored 13 points, and Zhaquondalee Greer added 12. Chloe Bully had five assists. Khadijah Brown came off the bench to grab six rebounds.
Jasmine Franklin scored 15 points for the Trojans (7-5, 3-3).
ANDERSON (59) — Franklin 15, Woods 10, Simpson 9, Monroe 8, Jankowy 8, Dillard 3, Moore 2, Floyd 2, Davis 2, Young, Willoughby.
CATAWBA (67) — Clay 18, Ciric 13, Greer 12, McPhail 8, Bully 7, Ucinski 4, Dixon 3, Brown 2, Huntley, Whitby.

Anderson 27 32 — 59
Catawba 32 35 — 67
Catawba defensive lineman Jonathan Jean and linebacker Jason Taylor were named to the Don Hansen All-Super Region 2 Football Team.
Jean, a sophomore defensive lineman, and Taylor, a junior linebacker, were third team selections.
Jean had five tackles for losses, including a pair of sacks. Taylor led the team with 105 tackles, had a team-high 10 tackles for loss and a pair of sacks.
• Lenoir-Rhyne fullback Ike Whitaker (Salisbury) was a first-team pick.

Rowan Little League will host its annual meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the City Lake Recreation Center. The meeting is open to any parents who have players in the league.
If you would like to get actively involved in our program this will be a great opportunity to do so. 2014 This is Little League’s 75th Anniversary. Contact Dan Wales at danthebuckeye@bellsouth.net or call 704-798-9583 with questions.
Salisbury’s booster club meeting on Monday night will be in Room 153 to allow for the meet and greet in the media center. The meeting is at 6 p.m.
CHARLOTTE — Pierria Henry scored 23 points with seven rebounds and UNC-Charlotte beat North Carolina A&T in a nonconference game on Saturday night.
North Carolina A&T (3-11) battled to a 40 point tie with the 49ers on near-even stats in the first half.
The game remained back and forth until Terrence Williams laid down a 3-pointer putting Charlotte up 49-47 six minutes into the second period. Charlotte (9-4) followed that a bit later with a 10-0 run accentuated by a Shawn Lester dunk to put it out of reach for the Aggies at 65-51.
The 49ers shot 53 percent from the field, including 10 of 19 treys while Shawn Lester and Willie Clayton contributed 13 points each.
Richaud Pack led Aggie scorers with 18 points.
CULLOWHEE, N.C. — Trey Sumler scored 21 points and James Sinclair and Tom Tankelewicz combined for 24 as Western Carolina pulled away from Elon in the second half for a 74-62 win on Saturday.
With Tankelewicz knocking down four 3-pointers, the Catamounts (9-8, 2-0 Southern Conference) got 22 points off the bench to just five for the Phoenix (7-8, 0-1).
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — De’Mon Brooks scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Davidson to a 78-63 victory over Wofford on Saturday night.
Tom Droney had 18 points and four rebounds for the Wildcats (5-10, 1-0 SC).

Tyler Kalinoski added nine. The team sank 30-of-49 from the field and went 14-of-17 from the line.
Davidson surged to a 17-8 lead midway through the first and was up 37-28 at halftime. A 16-5 run to start the second period gave the Wildcats an 18-point advantage with 14 minutes to play. A pair of Brooks free throws at 4:38 extended the Wildcats lead to 21, putting the game out of reach of the Terriers.
The Terriers (6-8, 1-1) hit only 41.8 percent from the field and were outrebounded 32-23 by Davidson. Wofford’s team leader was Lee Skinner with 22 points and nine rebounds.