SALISBURY — North Rowan’s girls improved to 4-1 in the CCC standings on Tuesday, but it wasn’t easy.

Playing without injured starters Demeria Robinson and Brianna White, the Cavaliers erased a nine-point third-quarter deficit and surged past host Salisbury, 45-39.

“Demeria has a knee injury,” coach Brian Lytton said after North Rowan (9-5 overall) used a dominant fourth period to prevail. “We’re waiting to hear from the doctor but we don’t think it’s serious. She’s a stat-sheet filler so we had a lot of concerns coming in here without her.”

Minus it’s steadiest player, North Rowan fell behind 33-24 with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter. Its turnaround began when senior Fredejah Royer came off the bench and nailed a 3-pointer as the quarter ticked to a close.

“That was such a big basket,” Lytton said. “It gave us some energy going into the fourth (quarter).”

Teammate Aliyah Farmer scored 13 of her game-high 18 points in the second half — including seven in the final quarter. Her spinning layup with 5:30 to play gave North Rowan a 36-35 lead. Four minutes later, freshman Egypt Alexander hit a wide-open layup that made it 42-37.

Tyzarea Alexander paced Salisbury (3-16, 1-4) with 13 points.

SHS coach Lakai Brice was clearly disappointed following the Hornets’ 10th loss in 11 games.

“I didn’t like our shot selection,” she said. “When you have an advantage like that, you’ve got to wait for the smart shot. We rushed our shots in the fourth quarter.”

 

North Rowan (45): Farmer 18, E.Alexander 10, Washington 7, Allen 7, Royer 3, Russell, Morrison, Cannon, Mills.

Salisbury (39): T.Alexander 13, Caldwell 7, Philpott 6, Wolfe 5, Honeycutt 5, Capito 3, Hightower.

North Rowan  7  7  13  18 — 45

Salisbury  9  14  10  6 — 39