From staff reports

STATESVILLE — West Rowan’s girls basketball team escaped Statesville with a 48-45 North Piedmont Conference win on Thursday and likely will tie for second place.

East Rowan will tie West if it wins at home tonight against North Iredell. (East’s Adalie Harrison will go into that game with 998 career points.)

West (19-4, 7-3) led 25-21 at halftime, but the Greyhounds (5-17, 2-8), who finished fifth in the six-team league, caught up in the third quarter.

Statesville had the lead with 34 seconds left but missed three free throws.

Abigail Wilson scored 20 for West, including two crucial buckets in the fourth quarter. Dreamah Mason and Whitley Arnott also had baskets in the fourth quarter.

Mason scored eight big points off the bench.

Natalia Keaton scored 14 for the Greyhounds.

West, which split with East and Carson in the league, will be the No. 2 seed for the NPC tournament and will have a first-round bye, but if East wins on Friday, the league’s No. 2 seed as far as the 3A state playoffs will be determined by what happens in the tournament. There’s a potential East-West meeting in the  tourney semifinals.

Carson is hosting the semifinals and championship game.

WEST (48) — Wilson 20,  Mason 8, Arnott 7, Poole 5, Blabon 5, Connolly 3,  Cuthbertson.

STATESVILLE (45) — Keaton 14, Hoffman 9, Summers 7, Swift 7, Scott 6, Bowman 2, Wilson, White-Connor.

W. Rowan   14   11  12  11   — 48

Statesville   10   11  16    8   — 45

West boys fall

STATESVILLE — West Rowan’s boys basketball team had a shot at its first conference crown since 2010, but the Falcons were pounded in Thursday’s showdown at Statesville.

A physical game was marred by several technicals, including a double technical late in the third qurarter.

Statesville won 79-57.

The Greyhounds (17-5, 8-2) came out hot to grab  a 14-3 edge and got four 3-pointers in the first quarter from Miykei Fields to establish a 23-9 lead.

By halftime, it was 44-23.

West lost big man Zeek Biggers to fouls before the third quarter was over, and the Greyhounds cruised to  a victory that gave them the NPC regular-season title.

Fields scored 32 for the Greyhounds, while Chris Brown had 16.

Chaz McCombs led West with 18 points. Macari Allison had 13, and Biggers  scored 10.

West (13-9, 7-3) finished second and will have a first-round bye in the NPC tournament. Carson is hosting the semifinals and championship game. First-round games will be played Tuesday with the 3 seeds hosting the 6 seeds and the 4 seeds hosting the 5 seeds.

WEST (57) — McCombs 18, Allison 13, Biggers 10, Moss 6, Joseph 5, Wood 3, Hassard 2, Weeks, Currie.

STATESVILLE (79) — Fields 32, Brown 16,  Gathings 9, Coleman 6, Hamilton 5, Holland 5, Miller 4, Jackson 2, Fortson, Robinson.

W. Rowan    9   14   18  16   — 57

Statesville   23  21  16  19   — 79

JV girls

West Rowan’s JV girls won 34-26 against Statesville on Thursday.

Jenna Wheeler and Shykira Hodges scored 11 each for the Falcons.

Catawba track

WINSTON-SALEM— Catawba competed at the Queens Combined Events Track and Field Meet   at the JDL Fast Track. Nolan Chilton placed 14th with a school-record 4,029 points in the heptathlon and Jesse Schronce was 18th with 3,723 points.

Catawba will return to action on Feb. 22 at the USC Indoor Open in Columbia, S.C.

Mid. school girls

China Grove defeated Erwin, 25-8.

Sadie Featherstone  led Erwin with four points.

Parks and Rec

The Salisbury Parks and Recreation Department is   accepting registration for its NBA Babies coed youth basketball league for ages 3-4 and an adult  coed kickball league.

Register at Hall Gym or online at www.salisburync.gov/play.  Call 704-638-5289 or email sclar@salisburync.gov  for information.