By David Shaw
sports@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — The North Rowan girls’ basketball collapse against visiting Albemarle was thorough and complete.

The Lady Cavs simply stopped shooting, rebounding, ball-handling and defending in Friday’s vexing, 70-36 YVC loss.

“There really isn’t anything to write about,” disappointed coach Ron Bost said after North (4-10, 3-5) absorbed its sixth consecutive loss. “We made shots and played defense in the first quarter. We didn’t continue to do it — and the score tells our story.”

It was a story that opened with promise before spiraling into despair. North used a pair of Makiya McDaniel put-backs to forge a 15-15 tie after one period, teasing the Cavs into believing they could match up with third-place Albemarle (13-4, 7-2). But the guests forced 12 second-quarter turnovers and opened the offensive spigot, outscoring North 26-7 to take command.

“We started playing too fast,” said Bost. “We came out of our press because they kept leaking No. 10 (Krystin McLendon) out for fast breaks. She helped beat us.”

McLendon, a 5-1 sophomore guard, had 23 points. Teammate Zycoria Tillman led all scorers with 24 points — including eight straight that gave Albemarle a 37-20 lead late in the first half.

North received 11 points each from senior Myanna Hillie and McDaniel, a 5-8 freshman who made both of the Cavs’ second-half field goals. North finished with 37 turnovers.

“We needed to get better ball pressure,” Bost said. “One thing we did that we wanted to was run them off the three-point line. Other than that, we didn’t play. We didn’t shoot or rebound. You look at the boxscore and some girls got nine or 10 rebounds, but only two points. We’ve got to finish more.”

ALBEMARLE (70) — Tillman 24, McLendon 23, Baldwin 10, Newton 6, Ridley 3, Green 2, Porter 2, Gaddy, Stanback, Little.

NORTH ROWAN (36) — Hillie 11, McDaniel 11, Taborn 4, Shoaf 3, Sifford 2, Perry 2, Reid 1, Brown 1, Hill 1, Robinson, Robbins, Cain, Sherrill.

Albemarle           15   26   15   14 — 70

North Rowan     15    7      5    9 — 36