By Bill Kiser
sports@salisburypost.com
There’s no question now who’s the third-best team in the NPC.
That would be East Rowan, which moved into sole possession of third in the league standings after throttling county rival South Rowan 62-40 on Friday night.
Ashley Collins scored a game-high 18 points to lead a balanced scoring attack for the Mustangs (9-5, 7-2), who had 10 of their 11 players put points on the scoreboard. Six scored at least four or more points.
That more than offset the Raiders’ (9-6, 6-3) scoring tandem of Nikki Graham and Taylor May, who had 17 and 11. But Graham scored all of her points in the fourth quarter, and May didn’t break into double figures until midway through the final period.
“That was our game plan,” East Rowan head coach Karen Garmon said. “We felt like if we could stop those two and keep them off the offensive boards, then we could execute our game plan on the other end. That’s what we were able to do.”
In all, the Mustangs’ defense held South Rowan to 25.5 percent shooting (including just 3-of-16 on 3-pointers) and forced them into 27 turnovers ó 14 coming off steals ó accounting for 16 points.
The Raiders? While they forced East into 23 turnovers, they could only convert them into four points Friday night.
“They can make their shots,” South Rowan head coach Jim Brooks said. “They’ve got six or seven girls that if you let them loose, they can kill you…. When you have to defend all five people on the floor, it makes it very hard.
“They’re the best-shooting team we’ve played all year, and we’ve played Statesville. Right now, I’d say they’re the best team in the conference. I’d certainly pay to see them play Statesville right now.”
The Mustangs shot 52.2 percent in the second half as they pushed their lead as high as 27 points late.
Ahead 22-11 at the half, East Rowan outscored the Raiders 17-7 in the third quarter ó including nine of the final 11 points ó to pull ahead 39-18.
The Mustangs took their biggest lead with less than a minute to play, with Devin Corpening’s layup giving East Rowan a 60-33 margin.
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NOTES: South was without forward-center Kayla Morrow for the second straight game after she suffered an injured shoulder last week. Brooks said that Morrow is scheduled to see her doctor on Thursday, and may be back in the lineup for next Friday’s game against Lake Norman.
EAST ROWAN (62) ó Collins 18, Rankin 9, Vanderford 8, Poole 8, Holshouser 5, Sabo 5, Corpening 4, Means 2, File 2, Hneycutt 1, Drew.SOUTH rowan (40) ó Graham 17, May 11, Garrett 4, K. Haywood 4, Goins 4, W. Haywood, Sides, Roberts..
E. Rowan 00 00 00 00 ó 62
S. Rowan 00 00 00 00 ó 40