By Ronnie Gallagher
rgallagher@salisburypost.com
TYRO ó North Rowan’s girls basketball team looked quicker, faster, taller and more athletic than West Davidson.
So, how did North Rowan coach Tony Hillian explain a 46-36 loss to the Green Dragons?
“The effort was not there tonight,” he said. “We were not ready to play basketball.”
Unfortunately for North, David Klinkoski’s team was. The Green Dragons beat the press, rebounded errant shots and played good defense.
“I thought we did a much better job tonight rebounding than we have all season,” Klinkoski said after looking at the stat sheet that reported 29 defensive rebounds and 11 on the offensive end.
Hillian yelled at his team to be patient but a frenetic pace only hampered the Cavaliers (2-9, 0-2). They were down quickly 6-2 and trailed 11-8 after one quarter before mounting their only charge of the night.
Quon Cuthbertson started the second quarter with a free throw. Abril Ellis stole the ball and scored on a layup. Symphony Roberts canned a 15-footer and Teaunna Cuthbertson followed with a layup off a feed from Roberts. Suddenly, North was up 15-11 and appeared ready to take control.
Didn’t happen. It was West Davidson that remained patient, working the ball past the Cav press and scoring on easy layups. Kristin Owens did most of the damage, finishing with 19.
North managed only four free throws in the third quarter and trailed 30-22 going into the fourth. Six points by Roberts and a 3 by Tiffany Brown got North within six but West Davidson (6-4, 2-0) hit its free throws down the stretch. Kristin Elmore hit four straight late to seal it.
“Too many layups missed. Too many free throws missed. Too many turnovers,” Hillian said with a shrug.
Roberts was the only Cav with more than six points, scoring 14.
“They went man-to-man and we have seven man-to-man offenses,” Hillian said. “We just turned the ball over. We didn’t play solid defense.
“This was not one of our best performances. We thought we had a chance to win this ballgame.”
north rowan (36) ó Roberts 14, Q. Cuthbertson 6, Gregory 6, T. Cuthbertson 5, Brown 3, Ellis 2, Torrence, Miller, Bush, Bethea, Rhinehart.west davidson (46) ó Owens 19, Beverly 10, Elmore 9, Cox 4, Hairston 2, Sarver 2, Church, Myers.
N. Rowan 8 10 4 14 ó 36
W. Davidson 11 9 10 16 ó 46