From staff reports   

Friday’s girls games …

SPENCER — North Rowan’s first-year girls basketball coach Lamar Wilkerson, has had to sweat out most of his team’s victories this year, but the Cavaliers blew out an opponent on Friday.

North pounded Yadkin Valley Conference opponent Uwharrie Charter, 45-19, in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

“The crowd was great and our staff  did an excellent job coming up with a plan,” Wilkerson said. “The girls came out with a purpose. They understood the importance of this game for our position in the conference.”

North scored the first nine points of the game and led all the way.

Uwharrie’s best moments came late in the first quarter when the Eagles clawed back within 12-8.

North (9-9, 7-3) ramped up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, held the visitors to two points in the quarter and led 23-12 at halftime.

Then North shut out the Eagles in the third quarter to take a 32-12 lead and put the game away.

“Our mindset was to not let up,” Wilkerson said. “This was a complete overall victory.”

Freshman Hannah Wilkerson scored 11 points in the first half and finished with 17. The Cavaliers got seven from Mckenzie Shoaf and six from Natavia Taborn.

North also got strong inside play from athletic newcomer Jamiya Daniels.

“She’ll help us,” Coach Wilkerson said. “She’s starting to get a feel for this team.”

Uwharrie Charter (6-12, 2-8) got eight points from Mia Leonard.

UWHARRIE CHARTER (19) — Leonard 8, Beeson 5, Brooks 4, Teel 2, Barker.

NORTH (45) — Wilkerson 17, Shoaf 7, Taborn 6, Lynch 5, Daniels 4, Robbins 2, McDaniel 2, King 2, Sherrill.

Uwharrie Charter   10    2   0   7    — 19

North Rowan       12     11    9  13    — 45

 

Salisbury girls

LEXINGTON — Salisbury hit the boards hard, raced to a 17-2 lead at the outset, and then held off Lexington for a 58-45 Central Carolina Conference victory.

Lexington scored two points, while committing 12 turnovers in the first 7 minutes, 50 seconds.

“When you play a team like Salisbury, it’s just hard to come all the way back from something like that,” Lexington coach Andrew Porter told the Lexington Dispatch.

Bryanna Troutman, a 6-foot senior headed to Wingate, led the Hornets. She had 20 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Anayia Fulson scored 13 for the league-leading Hornets (12-2, 10-1) and her defense held Lexington star Mikenzie Harvin to 10.

Lexington was paced by Danasia Bray and Sophie Peoples with 12 points each.

“Bryanna is obviously an awesome player, but she’s really just a calm person,” Salisbury coach Lakai Brice said. “And she calms us down on the court. She can shoot it, handle it and set people up to score. Our defense helped us with our offense tonight. In the first quarter, we came out with intensity and momentum and we got off to a great start.”

 

SALISBURY scoring (58) — Troutman 20, Fulson 13, McCullough 8, Gibson 7, T. Robinson 6, C. Robinson 4, Glenn, Brown.

 

East Rowan girls

GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan controlled its North Piedmont Conference with Statesville for three quarters, but the Mustangs couldn’t hold off the visitors in the fourth.

Statesville took a 52-39 victory and stayed tied for first in the league with Carson and North Iredell. Statesville has beaten Carson. Carson beat North Iredell. North Iredell beat Statesville.

“Statesville is so active, they make you work the whole game,” East coach Kevin Holland said. “We just didn’t have enough in the end. It was disappointing to let it get away from us, especially at home.”

East lost defensive stopper Zee Winford to a first-quarter injury. That would be a major factor in the fourth quarter. East will find out more about Winford’s injury on Monday.

East led 10-4 after the first quarter and made it to halftime with a 19-18 edge.

Heading to the fourth quarter, East still led 28-25.

“But the fouls were piling up,” Holland said. “We lost Mary (Spry) and Carolina (Houpe) to fouls in the fourth quarter. Danasia Gray just took over the game for Statesville in the fourth quarter, and we didn’t have anyone who could slow her down.”

Statesville took control by the midway point of the fourth quarter.

Gray got 13 of her 19 points for the Greyhounds (13-3, 3-1)  in the fourth quarter.

Adalie Harrison scored 13 for the Mustangs (12-5, 1-3), while Grace Eagle had 10, and Houpe had eight.

“We played hard enough to win, but we just didn’t play well enough to win,” Holland said. “I was proud of the fight in our girls, but we have to fix our mistakes. I know we can compete. I think we can win if we can correct our errors.”

STATESVILLE (52) — Gray 19, Sharpe 12, Hoffman 7, McNeill 7, Keaton 2, Bailey 2.

E. ROWAN (39) — Harrison 13, Eagle 10, Houpe 8, Spry 4, Mitchell 3, Honeycutt 2, Winford.

Statesville    4     14      7   27  — 52

E. Rowan    10     9      9    11    — 39

 

A.L. Brown girls

CONCORD — A.L. Brown’s girls won their second in a row on Friday, beating Robinson, 57-39.

It was the first SPC victory for the Wonders (2-15, 1-3), who got a career game from Jala Campbell. She scored 28.

Malaysia Grier and Kaylee Yow were also instrumental in A.L. Brown’s win.

 

North Stanly girls

MISENHEIMER — North Stanly put up a fight before losing to third-ranked Albemarle, 60-50, at Pfeiffer.

Albemarle (17-1, 10-0) stayed unbeaten in the Yadkin Valley Conference.