From staff reports

CONCORD — South Rowan girls basketball coach Alex Allen watched with a mixture of dismay and disbelief on Friday as Concord turned into West Rowan for about five minutes.

Leading 13-7 late in the first quarter at Rimer Gym, the Spiders suddenly were up 29-9 after a 16-2 run fueled by a flurry of steals and layups.

South eventually fell behind by as many as 30 — 51-21 in the third quarter — before trying to come back. South chopped into that huge deficit, but the Spiders breezed to a 64-50 South Piedmont Conference victory.

Concord averaged 28.5 points per game last season and went 2-22. The Spiders (5-7, 3-2) haven’t become world-beaters overnight — they’ve been outscored by nearly 200 points for the season — but they are much improved from a year ago.

Concord got 25 points from bouncy Myajah Nixon, who banked in a straight-on 3-pointer, among other things. She was a tough matchup for the Raiders.

Also in double figures were Kaylin Williams and Kate Smith. Those two and shot-blocker Natalie Nebrich played with a furious feistiness that suggested that they’re tired of losing and they’re ready to do something about it.

South (2-9, 0-5) tried to match Concord’s passion and dug in and scrapped in the second half, but the hole was too deep.

Ella Morgan made hard-nosed drives, got knocked to the floor frequently and went to the foul line often enough to score a career-high 18 for the Raiders. She had 16 in the second half.

Kynlee Dextraze got mad enough to trade forearm shivers and elbows with the aggressive Spiders and scored 14.

South         7     8     17    18   — 50

Concord     21   15   16   12    — 64

SOUTH — Morgan 18, Dextraze 14, Pharr 6, Fisher 3, Alston 3, Atwell 2, Krieg 2, Eagle 2.

CONCORD – Nix 25, Williams 15, Smith 13, Taylor 6, Nebrich 2, Hooks 2, Blue 1.

•••

CONCORD — Northwest Cabarrus’ tenacious defense shut down East Rowan 58-27 in a South Piedmont Conference game.

East (6-6, 2-4) had four straight single-digit quarters and made only five field goals in the game.

Mary Church banked in a 3-pointer to get East on the board. Lily Kluttz made a 2-pointer for East’s only other field goal in the first quarter.

The Trojans were in command 19-6 by the end of the quarter. East didn’t make a field goal in the second quarter and needed four late free throws by Kady Collins to trail 32-11 at halftime.

Kluttz made a 3-pointer in the third quarter. Church and Kluttz had buckets in the fourth.

Northwest (9-3, 5-1) has good size in 6-foot Marisa Furner, 5-11 Kennedy Hilsenroth and 5-10 Mackenzie Ortscheid. Furner had four buckets in the first quarter and scored 12. Ortscheid made two 3-pointers in the third quarter and scored 13. Guard Re’Ale Walton added 11 points.

Northwest’s only SPC loss was 54-47 at Robinson.

East Rowan            6     5     7    9  — 27

NW Cabarrus       19    13   14   12  — 58

EAST — Church 10, Kluttz 7, Collins 4, S. Featherstone 4, Waddell 2.

•••

MOORESVILLE — Lake Norman is one of the state’s best teams and had no trouble with A.L. Brown in a Greater Metro Conference game.

Samantha Shehan had 18 points and six assists for the Wildcats, who put five girls in double figures in a 73-18 romp.

It was 46-10 at the half.

Lake Norman (11-1, 1-0) made 10 3-pointers and got 15 points from Kaylee Ellis and 14 from Kelsey Rhyne.

Ayanni Flood led the Wonders (8-4, 0-2) with six points.

A.L. Brown          4    6     4   4    — 18

Lake Norman     20  26   17  19  — 73

A.L. BROWN — Flood 6, Bradley 4, Faulkner 3, Robinson 2, Grier 2, David 1.