From staff reports

MISENHEIMER — North Rowan’s girls turned in their strongest effort of the season and knocked off previously undefeated Gray Stone 62-56 on Friday.

“Gray Stone has a very well-coached team that really knows the game,” North coach Lamar Wilkerson said. “But this was a night when we played hard for four quarters. We put four quarters together.”

The win was surprising for a couple of reasons. Yadkin Valley Conference leader Gray Stone (17-1, 12-1) had battered the Cavaliers 60-35 in Spencer in the first meeting. North also had suffered an upset loss at Chatham Central on Tuesday that no one saw coming.

Hannah Wilkerson had 23 points, 10 rebounds and four steals for the second-place Cavaliers (16-7, 12-3). Natavia Taborn had 14 points, four assists and six steals. Kamora Cannie had 13 points, 10 steals and four assists. Makiya McDaniel had six points and eight rebounds. Kimya Lynch had eight rebounds and four steals.

“Our girls really played big on the boards and we ran the court and did a great job of pressuring the ball and getting steals,” Coach Wilkerson said. “This was our third road game of the week, and we were concerned about that, but we still had our legs. Our bench really helped us. Everyone played a great game.”

N. ROWAN (62) — Wilkerson 23, Taborn 14, Cannie 13, McDaniel 6, Lynch 4, Elder 2, Robbins, Stoner, King.

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STATESVILLE — Carson stayed on top in the North Piedmont Conference with Friday’s 54-27 win at Statesville.

“Not an easy place to play, so it’s a good road win for us,” Carson coach Brooke Stouder said. “It sets up a very big game (at West Rowan) on Tuesday.”

Maci Cooper has been hot lately and kept it going. Cooper jumped off the bench to score 10 points in the first quarter. She had 15 by halftime and Carson (19-3, 7-1) led 34-16.

Cooper shot 4-for-7 from 3-point range. She finished with 17. Cooper has scored 52 points in Carson’s last three games.

“She’s been huge, coming in and making shots off the bench,” Stouder said.

Lani Isley scored only two points, but had eight rebounds and five steals. Carleigh Perry scored 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting and pulled down six rebounds. Taylor Conrad had six points and eight rebounds and her work on defense as an undersized post player earned some praise from Stouder. Colbie Perry scored 10 points.

Sha’kiya Bowman scored eight for the Greyhounds (5-15, 2-6).

“Statesville is athletic, but we had a really good defensive effort and our press caused turnovers,” Stouder said. “That’s a dangerous team if they get going, but we didn’t let them get going.”

CARSON (54) — Cooper 17, Ca. Perry 10, Co. Perry 10, Conrad 6, Wilhelm 5, H. Isley 4, L. Isley 2, Post, Sanns, White.

STATESVILLE (27) — Bowman 8, Bailey-Scott 5, Wilson 5, Keaton 3, Summers 3, Swift 2, Hoffman 1, Turner, White-Connor.

Carson     14    20    7   13    — 54

Statesville  7    9    7    4    —  27

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THOMASVILLE — Salisbury’s girls wrapped up their second straight Central Carolina Conference championship with Friday’s easy 52-22 win at East Davidson.

Freshman Kyla Bryant made two 3-pointers and scored all of her 12 points in the first quarter as the Hornets (20-1, 16-0) jumped out to an 18-2 lead.

It was 30-6 at halftime.

Jaleiah Gibson scored 10 for Salisbury. Rachel McCullough and Anayia Fulson scored nine each.

McCullough, a sophomore, scored her 500th point. Fulson, a senior, has 1,233 points and is eighth on the Hornets’ all-time scoring list.

Skylar Grubb scored eight for the Golden Eagles (0-21, 0-16).

E. DAVIDSON (22) — Grubb 8, Hill 6, Baxley 5, Warrick 3, Cook, R. Brown, Sechrist, Mahan, L. Brown, Graham.

SALISBURY (52) — Bryant 12, Gibson 10, Fulson 9, McCullough 9, Huntley 5, Oats 4, Bolder 2, Morgan 1, Mashore, McEntyre.

E. Davidson    2    4    4   12    — 22

Salisbury        18  12   10  12    — 52

OLIN — West Rowan’s girls had little trouble bouncing back from Tuesday’s surprising loss at South Iredell and stayed one game behind Carson in the North Piedmont Conference race.

Abigail Wilson and Cindy Connolly got the Falcons (18-3, 6-2) off to a good start on Friday at North Iredell (3-19, 0-8). West led 22-6 after a quarter, went up 41-15 at halftime and coasted to a 68-48 victory.

Wilson scored 27 points and has scored at least 20 in 19 of the Falcons’ 21 games.

Taylor Poole added 10 points, Gabby Blabon scored nine, and Connolly had eight.

Whitley Arnott, a senior who is known mostly for softball, scored her 500th point.

Breanna Gibson scored 14 for North Iredell.

WEST (68) — Wilson 27, Poole 10, Blabon 9, Connolly 8, Durham 6, Arnott 4, Spicer 2, Cuthbertson 2, Mason, Watkins, Haggas.

N. IREDELL (48) — Gibson 14, Guill 9, Barzee 8, Guo 6, Anderson 4, Ward 2, Myers 2, Bradford 2, Allen 1, Goodin, Lamb.

W. Rowan    22  19   12   15   — 68

N. Iredell      6     9    10  23   — 48

••••

TROUTMAN — East Rowan won big at South Iredell on Friday, 69-37, in a North Piedmont Conference game.

East (17-5, 5-3) led 22-5 after a quarter and stayed in control.

The margin of victory was a surprise. It was Senior Night for South Iredell (9-11, 4-4) and the Vikings were coming off a momentum-building upset of West Rowan.

“We knew they would have some confidence after beating West, but we played the best we’ve played in weeks,” East Coach Kevin Holland said. “We had a great start and our press was bothering them. Adalie (Harrison) was pushing the ball and Mary (Spry) and Haley (Dalton) were dominating inside.”

Holland credited Leah Hinceman with doing a stout defensive job against South Iredell shooter Sarah Nelson. Nelson scored 16, but most came after the game was decided.

Nelson, a senior guard headed to Salem College, scored the 1,000th point of her career.

“It was a big game, a big road win,” Holland said. “It keeps us in contact with West and Carson and puts South Iredell behind us. I was proud of the effort and proud of the execution. I was worried about this one because we couldn’t practice on Thursday and weren’t in school Friday. I didn’t know what to expect, but we played really well.”

Harrison scored 21 points, one of her biggest games of the season, and has 985 career points.

Spry (11), Hinceman (10) and Grace Eagle (20) also were in double figures, while Dalton scored eight.

E. ROWAN (69) — Harrison 21, Spry 11, Eagle 10, Hinceman 10, Dalton 8, Nwafor 6, Houpe 3, Ali, Honeycutt, Jones, Miller.

S. IREDELL (37) — Nelson 16, Mercer 13, Houpe 4, Durham 2, Brown 2, King, Jolly, Zeigler, Nguyen, Weddington, Kimmel.

E. Rowan   22  11  21   15   — 69

S. Iredell      5   12   9   11   — 37

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LANDIS — South Rowan’s girls lost to Lexington, 52-43, in Friday’s Central Carolina Conference game.

South (4-18, 3-13) had won at Lexington (7-13, 3-13) and had a chance for a season sweep, but the Yellow Jackets finished stronger, outscoring the Raiders 20-9 in the fourth quarter.

Eight teams make the conference tournament. South and Lexington are now tied for eighth with two regular-season games left.

Bethany Rymer scored 21 for South, her sixth game this season with at least 20. She scored nine in the third quarter as the Raiders took a 34-32 lead.

South got six points each from Paige Chabala, Mackenzie Chabala and Madilyn Cherry.

Amarah Owens had 19 to lead Lexington and came through with 11 in the fourth quarter. Danasia Bray, the other half of Lexington’s 1-2 punch, had 18 points.

LEXINGTON (52) — Owens 19, Bray 18, Jackson 7, Peoples 6, Roseboro 2, Zavala, McLeod, Newell, Allah.

S. ROWAN (43) — Rymer 21, M. Chabala 6, Cherry 6, P. Chabala 6, Moore 2, McGuire 2, Littlejohn.

Lexington    8    14   10   20   — 52

S. Rowan     8   13    13    9    — 43

•••

Central Davidson edged North Davidson 42-40 in a Central Carolina Conference game.

Madison Neal led the Spartans (10-9, 8-8) with 13 points. Emily Hege scored 21 for North Davidson (16-6, 12-4).

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On Saturday, Central Cabarrus crushed A.L. Brown, 71-33, in a game postponed from Friday.

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Davie (0-22, 0-8) lost 70-11 to Glenn in a Central Piedmont Conference game.