Staff report

LANDIS — South Rowan’s girls basketball team needed a win and got it.

Carson needed a respectable performance to close a tough season and got it.

Both teams had reasons to feel good after Friday’s South Piedmont Conference game played on the Raiders’ Senior Night.

South got 19 points from junior post player Kynlee Dextraze and beat the Cougars 45-33.

That was the closest Carson (1-22, 0-16) came in an SPC game all season. It was only the fourth time Carson has topped 30 points.

The difference in the game was Dextraze. She is not flashy, but she understands positioning and angles and how to seal off defenders. She can make layups with either hand, she always uses the glass, and her ability to score in the paint helped South get a lead and hold it against a Carson team that played even harder than usual for coach Chloe Monroe.

South McKenzie Menius scored the first point of the game on a free throw. Dextraze started scoring, got 10 in the first quarter and carried South to a 12-4 lead.

Carson didn’t win many quarters this season, but the Cougars won the second quarter. South led 19-13 at halftime.

South (5-18, 3-13) passed the ball well in the third quarter, got a lot of layups and scored 19 points in the period to take a 38-22 lead.

Carson had a 5-0 run to start the fourth quarter, and the Cougars didn’t have many of those runs this season. The Cougars won the quarter and were able to cut South’s lead to 10, but that was as close as it got.

Day Pharr made some physical buckets inside for South and scored seven. Danica Krieg made a couple of nice shots, and Ella Morgan made a 3-pointer.

Rylee Hedrick did a great job of driving and getting to the rim in the fourth quarter. She led the Cougars with 13 points. Brooklyn  McBride scored seven. Leana Baldwin and Emily Guiton scored six each. Guiton made Carson’s only 3-pointer.

Hedrick, Guiton and Caylee Snow made five steals each for Carson. Carson had 19 steals, but the Cougars couldn’t overcome 33 turnovers. A lot of those were on attempted passes to the post that got picked off or deflected.

South will move on to next week’s SPC tournament, but Carson finished ninth and won’t be in the eight-team tourney.

Carson    4     9     9    11    — 33

South     12     7    19   7      — 45

CARSON — Hedrick 13, McBride 7, Guiton 6, Baldwin 6, Burleson 1.

SOUTH — Dextraze 19, Pharr 7, Krieg 5, Alston 4, Eagle 4, Morgan 3, Menius 2, Carter 1.