Staff report

LANDIS — South Rowan girls basketball coach Alex Allen is in her fourth season.

For the first time, she’s 1-0. South opened by beating West Iredell 56-43 at home on Friday.

This is the first time the program has been 1-0 since South roughed up North Rowan to begin the 2016-17 season.

“We had some of those typical first-game jitters and it was the first varsity game for some girls, but once we settled down and got over the nervousness we played pretty well,” Allen said. “We’ve worked hard to get better defensively, and it was good to see us make some shots. We had a very good crowd, and that helped us.”

Senior guard Madilyn Cherry is in her fourth varsity season and is expected to lead South’s scoring most nights. She came through with a career high of 20 points.

Kynlee Dextraze. a sophomore who is a returning starter in the post, also had a career high. She scored 16.

South got another 20 points from a combination of players.

“We kept the lead and while it got close a few times, we never lost it,” Allen said. “Our team chemistry was good.”

South will play at North Rowan on Monday.

W. Iredell  7    9   10   17   — 43

S. Rowan    12  12  19  13   — 56

South scoring — Cherry 20, Dextraze 16, Alston 7, Atwell 6, Childers 4, Howell 2, Ritchie 1.