by Marny Hendrick

sports@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — It took the North Rowan girls almost five minutes at the beginning of the game to score a point but once they did, the Cavaliers never looked back in cruising to a lopsided, 54-29 win over county rival Salisbury last night.

Special Washington broke the ice for North at the three-minute mark of the first quarter with a long 3-pointer, then hit another a minute later as the two teams were tied at 6-6. The Lady Cavaliers then put their game into a higher gear with a decisive, 15-0 scoring run that left the cold-shooting Hornets in the dust.

By halftime, the margin was 30-11 and stretched as high as 28 points in the second half.

“I don’t know why but we just came out with a slow start,” said Farmer, a 5-9 senior forward, “but then we just picked it up and got it going from there.”

The Cavaliers (12-5, 3-1 in the Central Carolinas Conference) kept themselves positioned near the top of the league standings with the win, just a game back of unbeaten East Davidson. “We are in a situation where we have to win every game in our league then try and get East Davidson at their place. We are playing well and the girls are doing a a great job.”

The Hornets (10-7, 2-2 CCC) were victims of their own poor shooting throughout, plus an inability to solve the pressure defense of North Rowan. “We had a lot of energy on defense tonight,” stated the senior guard Washington, “and from that, we started scoring more.” Washington contributed a trio of long 3-pointers in the first half and finished the game with a team-high 17 points.

Farmer had a double-double for North with 13 points and 12 rebounds while junior Brianna White also produced a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards. Overall, the Cavaliers out-rebounded Salisbury, 36-23.

Salisbury went for over seven minutes during the first half without a point as they fell well behind North. Freshman Bryanna Troutman led Salisbury with 13 points while Maria Capito had a pair of 3-pointers for six points.

The Hornet girls will play a make-up game at Thomasville on Monday while North will be out of action until next Friday when they travel to Lexington.

Salisbury (29) — Troutman 13, Capito 6, Phifer 5, M. Glenn 2, T. Robinson 2, H. Robinson 1, Daniels.

North Rowan (54) — Washington 17, Farmer 13, White 10, Robinson 9, Godfrey 3, Russell 1, Allen 1, Shoaf, Oglesby .

Salisbury    6  5    6    12 — 29

N. Rowan   12   18   10   12 — 54