By Marny Hendrick

sports@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — The game was definitely not an offensive exhibition but East Rowan coach Kevin Holland found so many other positives in his team’s 28-25 win over North Rowan’s girls Saturday afternoon.

The win gave East a fifth-place finish in the annual Dale’s/Sam Moir Basketball Classic with a 2-1 record, after getting blitzed in Thursday’s first round by eventual champion Carson. The Mustangs also improved to 5-8 for the season which surpasses last year’s win total for the entire season.

“Right now, everything with our program is about improvement, one game at a time,” said Holland. “We talked about it all week and we are making progress.”

Maybe it was three games in three days for East and North but the teams combined for an 18-for-95 shooting day from the field with the Mustangs at 20 percent. Their last field goal came in the opening minute of the fourth period for a seven-point lead. From there, East played some keep-away and some solid defense to hold the Cavaliers (4-6) at bay.

“We might have scored more but I slowed things down in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter when we were up six,” Holland said.

North used a clutch three-point play by Natavia Taborn with just 10.7 seconds left to cut the East lead to 27-25. But the Mustangs were able to keep the ball in the final seconds and get a free throw by Holly Harrison to secure the final margin.

Harrison was the only player in double figures for either team with 10, including 5-for-9 from the foul line. Adalie Harrison had eight points, plus a surprising 10 rebounds for a five-foot guard. Caroline Houpe also scored eight points.

The Cavaliers were led by Myanna Hillie with seven points off the bench, followed by Jaylen Reid with six and Taborn with five. The bright spot for North was a 50-36 rebounding advantage, led by Reid with 13 boards and Hillie with 10.

EAST ROWAN (28) — H. Harrison 10, A. Harrison 8, Houpe 8, Fraley 2, Mitchell, Miller, Ali.

NORTH ROWAN (25) — Hillie 7, Reid 6, Taborn 5, Sherrill 3, Robinson 2, Brown 2, Shoaf, Cain, McDaniel, Hill, Robbins, Sifford.

East Rowan        8    5    9    6 — 28

North Rowan     7    2    8    8 — 25