HS girls basketball roundup: SPC losses for Carson, East, South
Published 11:28 pm Thursday, January 23, 2025
From staff reports
Thursday games …
CONCORD — Carson’s girls basketball team played one of its best games of the season, but Central Cabarrus pulled out a 45-40 victory.
“We had every chance to win it,” Carson head coach Chloe Monroe said. “Just couldn’t make shots in the last minute.”
Central (7-10, 6-4) made big free throws at the end.
Rylee Hedrick scored 15 for the Cougars.
Myajah Nix and Louella Blanchard scored 13 each for the Vikings.
Carson’s last lead, with under two minutes to go, was at 39-38 when Allie Martin passed to Caylee Sheets for a layup. Martin had also hit Sheets with a pass for a 37-all tie with 2:40 left.
Carson (3-15, 1-9) did not start off well and trailed 6-0 before Martin scored midway through the first quarter.
Carson took the lead in the second quarter when Emily Guiton and Julia Burleson made 3-pointers. Burleson banked one in from right in front of Central’s bench. Central coach Brandon Blalock bowed his head in disbelief, as he realized this might be one of those crazy nights.
The Cougars led the Vikings 20-16 at the half. Central scored the first 10 points of the second half and appeared to be on the verge of taking charge, but Carson didn’t go away and continued to make improbable shots.
Carson led 29-28 heading to the fourth quarter, but couldn’t hang on.
Carson 8 12 9 11 — 40
Central 10 6 12 17 — 45
Carson — Hedrick 15, Martin 9, Burleson 7, Sheets 4, Guiton 3, McBride 2.
Central — Nix 13, Blanchard 13, Burton 10, Duckett 4, Hills 2, Pickett 2, Fofana 1
•••
LANDIS — Robinson breezed to a 65-35 win at South Rowan to stay undefeated in the South Piedmont Conference.
South (6-10, 3-7) stayed in the game with the Bulldogs for about 11 minutes. Robinson (13-4, 9-0) led 20-13 at that point, but then a 13-0 run provided a 20-point lead and some comfortable separation before halftime.
Kynlee Dextaze scored 17 for the Raiders. She got eight from the foul line. The highlight of the night for South came when the Bulldogs backed away from Dextraze at the 3-point line, and she nailed the shot with 6:30 left to play.
Danica Krieg had some athletic moves to score eight, but the Raiders couldn’t establish any consistent offense against the Bulldogs, who were bigger and faster.
Robinson 17 20 14 14 — 65
South 7 9 11 8 — 35
SR scoring — Dextraze 17, Krieg 8, Eagle 4, Menius 3, Overcash 3.
•••
CONCORD — A resilient Northwest Cabarrus girls basketball squad squad rallied in the fourth quarter and beat East Rowan 54-50 in a South Piedmont Conference game between two of the top-tier teams.
East led by seven points with 4:21 remaining, but couldn’t put the Trojans away.
“Just have to finish games better,” East head coach Bri Evans said. “Have to make our free throws. We missed 13.”
The teams appear to be dead-even, but Northwest won 53-51 in overtime at East, so the Trojans (14-3, 9-1) own a season sweep of the Mustangs.
Mackenzie Ortscheid scored 19 points, with 13 coming at the foul line, to lead the Trojans. Freshman Ava Ibanez made three 3-pointers and scored 16.
Kady Collins made three 3-pointers and scored a career-best 23 for the Mustangs (14-4, 6-4) to balance out a three-point night by Mary Church, Rowan County’s leading scorer. The focus of Northwest’s defense, Church couldn’t get anything to fall — runners, jumpers, even free throws. Lily Kluttz scored her eight points in the last nine minutes. Sadie Featherstone didn’t have her best night, but she created havoc with her hustle and scored eight.
The first clue that it might be a special night for Collins came when she answered an Ibanez 3-pointer with one of her own for a 5-all tie early.
It was 11-all after a quarter. Then Collins put together an explosive second quarter.
Collins is a senior post player. She came in averaging about 9 points per game, but she has a smooth outside shot and is capable of big nights. She caught fire and made two 3s about 20 seconds apart to push the Mustangs to a 19-13 lead. Collins also had a three-point play for a 24-18 East lead. It was 24-all when Collins stuck back a missed 3-pointer for a 26-24 Mustang edge at halftime. Collins had 16 of East’s points in the half.
Collins scored again for the first points of the second half, and at the 5:15 mark of the third quarter, she scored again for a 30-26 lead, but that would be her last field goal.
Church found Kluttz for the left-wing 3-pointer that gave East a 38-35 lead after three quarters.
Kluttz made another 3 — a rainbow from the right side — for a 43-37 lead with five minutes left to play. East peaked, its biggest lead of the night, after Kori Miller battled for an offensive rebound and made the first of her two free throws. There was 4:21 on the scoreboard. The Mustangs were up seven.
Northwest got back in it with six quick points. Two girls who had been pretty quiet — Aminah Lyles and freshman Natalia Bonanno — drove hard for buckets to cut the deficit to three. Bonanno made an improbable shot flying down the lane. Then Ortscheid scored on an offensive rebound to cut East’s lead to a single point at 44-43.
East was up 46-45 when Ortscheid got a deflection that led two two free throws for Ibanez. Ibanez made both with 2:51 left, and Northwest, fighting uphill most of the night against East’s experienced team, had the lead.
East still had many chances down the stretch.
Featherstone had a steal and made a layup as she was fouled with 2:05 left, but she missed the free throw, and the Mustangs were down 49-48.
With East behind by two, Collins was right on line but a little short on a 3-pointer from the top of the wheel.
With Northwest leading 53-50 with 15 seconds left, the Trojans missed at the foul line and fouled on the rebound. Collins was shooting two. She made her first free throw to cut the deficit to two. When she missed the second one, Church darted into the lane and got a perfect carom on the rebound. She grabbed the ball and had a contested left-handed shot in the lane to tie, but couldn’t get it to drop. It was that kind of night for her.
With 9 seconds left, down by three, Northwest left the door open with another missed throw, but the Mustangs couldn’t secure the rebound. Ortscheid got it and gave her a team a safe four-point lead with a free throw.
East Rowan 11 15 12 12 — 50
NW Cabarrus 11 13 11 19 — 54
East — Collins 23, Featherstone 8, Kluttz 8, Church 3, Miller 3, Smith 3, Wise 2.
NWC — Ortscheid 19, Ibanez 16, Bonanno 8, Lyles 5, Willoughby 4, Furner 2.