From staff reports

SALISBURY — Salisbury’s top-seeded girls basketball team scored the first 16 points and romped 68-31 against South Rowan on Monday in the first round of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament.

Eighth-seeded South didn’t make a field goal until 11 minutes into the game.

The Hornets (23-1) led 34-11 at halftime.

Rachel McCullough scored 14 for the Hornets. Anayia Fulson had nine of  her 13 in the opening minutes. Kyla Bryant added 11.

Bethany Rymer made eight free throws and led the Raiders with 10 points.

South finished the season 4-21.

Salisbury will play fourth-seeded West Davidson in a 6 p.m. semifinal on Wednesday at Lexington.

See online for more on this game.

Stories on South coach Alex Allen’s first season and the outlook for the Hornets in the 2A state playoffs are upcoming.

SOUTH (31) — Rymer 10, P. Chabala 6, McGuire 5, Harrington 5, M. Chabala 2, Cherry 2, Moore 1, Redmon, Mance.

SALISBURY (68) — McCullough 14, Fulson 13, Bryant 11, Huntley 9, Gibson 6, Morgan 5, Oats 4, Bolder 4, Mashore 2, McEntyre.

S. Rowan     2    9    11   9   — 31

Salisbury    19  15  22  12  — 68

Tough loss for SHS

SALISBURY — Ledford knocked off Salisbury 60-57 in a frenzied first-round game in the Central Carolina Conference Tournament on Monday.

Salisbury’s Zay Kesler had a chance to tie the game at the foul line, but made one of two with 18 seconds left to leave the Hornets behind by one.

After a timeout, Ledford beat Salisbury’s press and  moved the ball until Austin Reece was fouled with five seconds left. Reece hadn’t scored, but he made two clutch ones to give Ledford its 60-57 lead.

Salisbury got the ball to Kesler beyond the 3-point line, but he couldn’t get a shot off and passed to a teammate just before time expired.

Kesler scored 25 for the third-seeded Hornets (15-9). Eight of their nine losses have come in games that went down to the wire.

Nate Brown scored 13.

Post man JJ Barker had 19 to lead Ledford. Brenner White and Owen Finley had 12 each, and Tyler Partee scored 11.

Sixth-Ledford (14-10), which has been playing without standout Walker Lackey, advanced to a semifinal on Thursday at second-seeded Lexington. Lexington is the tournament host.

There will be a full story online on this game.

LEDFORD (60) — Barker 19, Finley 12, B. White 12, Partee 11, Tate 4, Reece 2, Compton.

SALISBURY (57) — Kesler 25, Brown 13, L. White 6, Norman 5, Walker 4, Stout 2, Smith 2, Witherspoon.

Ledford      10  18  12   20  — 60

Salisbury   13   19  11  14  —  57

South boys fall

WELCOME — South Rowan’s boys basketball season ended on Monday with an 83-66 loss at North Davidson in the first round of the Central Carolina Conference Tournament.

Braden Graham scored 24 for the eighth-seeded Raiders (4-21).

Jamarien Dalton had 30 for the top-seeded Black Knights (21-4), while Tedric Jenkins scored 18.

North Davidson took a 15-point lead in the first quarter and was up by  22 points at halftime.

Next for the Black Knights is a Wednesday semifinal against fifth-seeded Thomasville. That game will be played  at Lexington at 7:30 p.m.

SOUTH (66) — Graham 24, Peacock 6, Ritchie 6, Nowak 5, Carter 5, Holloman 4, Thompson 4, Stanley 3, Dextraze 2, Carter 1.

N. DAVIDSON (83) — Dalton 30, Jenkins 18, Green 8, Luper 8, Moore 7, Short 5, Everhart 3, Bryant 2, Odum 2.

S. Rowan       13  14  21   18  — 66

N. Davidson  28  21  18   16  — 83

North girls win

SPENCER — North Rowan’s girls won 57-48 against South Stanly in the first round of the Yadkin Valley Conference Tournament on Monday.

Second-seeded North (18-7) got 23 points from Hannah Wilkerson and 17 from Kamora Cannie and advanced to a Wednesday semifinal against third-seeded Chatham Central.

That game will be played at South Davidson at 4 p.m. as the opener of a quadruple header.

North scoring — Wilkerson 23, Cannie 17, Taborn 8, McDaniel 6, Lynch 2, Stoner 1.

Davie boys win

MOCKSVILLE — Brooks Johnson scored 18 points to lead Davie’s boys to a 53-39 win against sixth-seeded Reagan in a first-round Central Piedmont Conference Tournament game on Monday.

Third-seeded Davie 915-9) will play second-seeded Glenn in a Wednesday semifinal at Reagan.

A.L. Brown girls win

KANNAPOLIS — A.L. Brown’s girls beat rival Concord 55-40 in a South Piedmont Conference Tournament first-round game played on Monday.

Jala Campbell scored 24 for the Wonders. Jaliah Smoutherson had nine.

The fourth-seeded Wonders (9-15) are a bubble team for the 3A state playoffs.

The Wonders are back in action tonight in a 6 p.m. semifinal against top-seeded Central Cabarrus. That game will be played at Concord.

Tournaments

The North Piedmont Conference joins the tournament excitement tonight.

East Rowan’s boys are at  South Iredell at 7:30 p.m.. Carson’s boys are at North Iredella t 6 p.m.

East Rowan’s girls host North Iredell at 6 p.m.

Carson is the tournament host. West Rowan’s boys and girls and Carson’s girls have first-round byes.

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The Yadkin Valley Conference boys also gets started tonight. North Rowan plays at home against North Moore at 6 p.m.

See the Scoreboard for a whole list of tournament pairings and scores.

Salisbury Academy

The Salisbury Academy varsity boys basketball team used full-court pressre and unselfish offense and won the  FAMA conference championship, defeating Hickory Christian Academy 48-17.

Deuce Walker led the Jaguars with 19 points. Hank Webb added 11 points, while  Jacob Mills and Will Wear scored six each.

Webb and Mills were all-conference. Walker was tournament MVP.

Salisbury Academy’s  varsity boys have played in five consecutive championships and have won three.

•••

Salisbury Academy’s varsity girls basketball team won 35-6 against Statesville Christian.

Izzy Banish scored 12 points, while Ashley Yang had 11.

Banish was the conference MVP. Lucy Barr and Yang made all-conference.

Local golf

The McCanless Couples played a chilly Captains Choice on Sunday.

Susan Wydner and Azalee & David Huneycutt took 1st place.

Don Carpenter and  Mary  & Gene Seaford took second place.

Ralph Carver had closest to the pin, while Pam Carver won longest putt.

Catawba softball   

PEMBROKE —  Catawba swept a softball doubleheader at UNC Pembroke on Sunday afternoon at the UNCP Softball Field. The Catawba Indians improved to 6-2 with wins of 3-1 and 7-2. The Braves fall to 4-8.

Catawba scored single runs in each of the first three innings of the opener. Riley Tucker singled home the first run then scored in the third on a hit by Gracie Gibson.

Jordan Adcox singled home a run with two outs for UNCP in the third, but that was all Brooke Walser would allow as she earned a win in her first decision of the year. Walser worked around five hits with three walks, but stranded 10 Brave runners, including five in the final two innings.

Tucker, Gibson and Kayla Pedersen each had two hits in the opener. Malerie Leviner (2-2) took the loss for UNCP. She gave up eight hits and walked three to go with seven strikeouts. Rend Wethering collected three hits and scored a run.

The Lady Indians overcame a 2-1 deficit in game two, scoring three times in the fourth and adding three more in the seventh. Pedersen drove in a run on a ground out for Catawba in the second, but UNCP answered. Alex Watkins squeezed home a run in the Brave second and Mary Sells’ double put the hosts up 2-1 in the third.

Pedersen singled home Jordan Dean for the second time in the fourth to tie the game then Allie Baker put Catawba on top with a sacrifice fly. One of three Kasey Rowden hits pushed the margin to 4-2. The Lady Indians struck with two outs in the seventh.

Gibson walked and Pedersen singled in front of a triple by Baker that upped the lead to 6-2. Sydney Goertzen followed with a double and a 7-2 edge. Preston Ellenberg (2-0) hurled seven inning for the win. She gave up five hits with a pair of walks and four strikeouts.

Pedersen joined Rowden with three hits for Catawba. Baker and Goertzen each had two. Tatum Brummitt had two hits for UNCP. Abby White (0-2) took the loss. She went five innings.

Catawba is set to host Francis Marion for a doubleheader on Wednesday at 1 p.m.

Catawba baseball   

SALISBURY — After losing their first two games of the season, the Catawba baseball team (7-2) extended their win streak to seven games after finishing off a sweep of Shippensburg (0-6) Sunday by the score of 12-1. The bats were alive all weekend as the Indians scored 28 runs in three games.

Catawba got rolling right away in the 1st inning as they scored 5 runs on 3 hits. Lee Poteat led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch, then two batters later Jackson Raper tripled to center field to bring in the first run of the game. Zack Miller came up next and hit a sac fly to left field to score Raper and the Indians were ahead 2-0.

Later in the first, catcher Cameron Morrison hit a laser shot out to right center field for a three-run homer to extend the lead to 5-0. Catawba would knock starter Kiernan Higgins out of the game after just 3.0 innings and giving up nine earned runs.

The Indians scored one run in the second frame, then scored five more runs in the fourth inning to essentially put the game out of reach. Shortstop Jeremy Simpson led off the fourth with a solo homer, followed by a Lee Poteat RBI single two batters later to bring home Bryce Butler. Dylan Wilkinson drove home a run with an RBI single later in the inning, followed by an error that scored Miller that extended the lead to 11-1.

Hunter Shepherd got the start on the mound for Catawba, going six innings while allowing 5 hits and 1 earned run. Pearce Wilhelm, Kenny Dollenger, and Trent Montgomery pitched the final three innings out of the bullpen.

Jackson Raper had another solid day at the plate going 3-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. Bryce Butler had a big game as well, going 3-4.

Today the team will travel to Mount Olive for a non-conference  game. First pitch is scheduled for 4 pm.