By Marny Hendrick

sports@salisburypost.com

SPENCER — When North Rowan sharpshooter Henderson Lentz is “feeling it,” good things usually happen for the Cavaliers.

Lentz, a 6-3 senior guard, rained in six 3-pointers, scored 24 points and led the Cavaliers to an easy, 60-39 Central Carolina Conference win over West Davidson Wednesday night in North’s gym.

Right out of the gate, Lentz hit a pair of threes and scored 11 of his team’s first 12 points as North (8-8, 3-1 CCC) built a quick lead that never fell below double figures the rest of the way.

He admitted that he knew he had the hot hand early in the game. “I got a really good bounce on my second shot, ” Lentz said, “so I thought maybe the rims were working for me tonight.”

Both Lentz and his coach Andrew Mitchell were quick to credit the win to two key factors: a stifling, trapping defense, plus outstanding play by converted point guard Joe Scott.

“Joe Scott is not really a point guard, but he did a heck of a job tonight,” Lentz said.

Mitchell said his 6-1 senior has made himself a good point guard. “Joe has taken on a leadership role and is starting to realize what point guard is all about,” said Mitchell. “He is very unselfish and was actually looking to get the ball to the player with the hot hand.”

As for the defense, North came out pressing and trapping from the opening tip and harassed the Green Dragons into numerous turnovers and forced shots.  The Cavs led, 19-8, after one quarter and never looked back.

“That is what we came into this game tonight to do,” Mitchell said. “We wanted to be aggressive on defense, try to touch as many balls as we could and hopefully, make them have to re-route their offense. I thought our guys did a great job with it.”

The defensive onslaught had the Green Dragons (8-9, 0-4 CCC) scrambling just to find an uncontested shot. West Davidson star, 6-5 forward Scott Hughes, came into the contest averaging just over 20 points per game, but left with only nine for the night. It was the sixth consecutive loss for the Dragons.

After building a 31-15 halftime lead, the Cavaliers exploded for a 22-11 edge in the third quarter. A breakaway slam dunk by Dayjuwon Cooke closed out the period with North up, 53-26. Michell went to his bench for the rest of the game, as 10 of 11 players scored.

Lentz left the game late in the third quarter for good with his 24 points, the same amount the visiting Dragons had at that point.

“The best is yet to come for us,” Lentz said. “Maybe our record doesn’t show it, but we are a young team and every time we have lost we learned something important from it. But if we move the ball like we did tonight, we will be a good team the rest of the way.”

The Cavaliers have just one day to enjoy the win as they have back-to-back conference battles this Friday and Saturday. Lexington comes in on Friday night, then North and rival Salisbury will face off the next night at Catawba College’s Goodman Gym.

“We pretty much control our own destiny,” Mitchell said of his team that sits one game back of league leader Thomasville. “But we have two really tough games back-to-back this weekend.”

WEST DAVIDSON (39) — Wright 13, Hughes 9, McKinney 6, Adams 4, Crews 3, Beck 2, Stoner 2, Baugess, Koontz, Dalton, Reamy.

NORTH ROWAN (60) — Lentz 24, Herron-Cuthbertson 8, Scott 8, Ellis 5, Goodlett 5, Cooke 3, Miller 2, Clement 2, McCombs 2, Cuthbertson 1, Harrison.

West Davidson          8       7     11     13 — 39

North Rowan            19     12    22      7 — 60

West Davidson Girls Hold Off North Rowan Rally

SPENCER — The West Davidson girls appeared to be on the verge of a romp against host North Rowan Wednesday night but the Cavaliers had other ideas.

Trailing, 50-34, after three quarters, North rode the hot hand of Aundrea Godfrey on a 12-0 run to start the fourth quarter to cut the margin to just four points. But the taller Green Dragons righted the ship in final two minutes to claim a 62-50 Central Carolina Conference win.

Godfrey, a senior forward, scored 16 of her game-high 23 points in the fourth period while Bil’izah Conner scored seven more, as North (1-14, 0-4 CCC) trimmed the Green Dragons’ lead to 50-46 with just under three minutes left.

West Davidson’s 6-1 forward Mary Nebrich, who had 21 in the game, scored a bucket and two free throws  down the stretch to build the lead back to eight as the Dragons improved to 9-8, 2-2 in the CCC. Guard Olivia Sharpe contributed 19 and Haley Lowe added 8 points and 11 rebounds

The rough and tumble contest featured a total of 48 fouls including a pair of technicals against the Cavaliers in the final minutes.  The two teams also combined to shoot a total of 65 free throws but connected only on 34.

W. DAVIDSON (62) — Nebrich 21, Sharpe 19, Cook 8, Lowe 8, Sink 3, Conrad 2, Rabon 1, Surratt, Grant, Owens, Yancey.

NORTH ROWAN (50) —  Godfrey 23, Connor 9, Robinson 6, White 4, Oglesby 4, Davis 3, Sherrill 1, Shoaf, Cain, Holland, Reid, Evans, Joyner.

West Davidson          12     23    15    12 — 62

North Rowan             12     17      5     16 — 50