From staff reports

LANDIS — South Rowan’s girls basketball started slowly on Tuesday but eventually buried Pine Lake Prep with defense and 3-pointers.

South won 46-22.

The Raiders (2-1) took a 19-16 lead to halftime, but then they overwhelmed Pine Lake Prep 19-0 in the third quarter.

“We got it together after a tough start,” South coach Alex Allen said. “Played really well in the second half. We found a rhythm. We had some tremendous hustle and boarding.”

Kynlee Dextraze scored 14 for the Raiders. Lexie Ritchie made two 3-pointers and scored 10. Eden Childers also made two 3-pointers.

Pine Lake Prep (0-2) opened the season with a 77-15 loss to Lake Norman.

Pine Lake Prep 8   8   0   6  —  22

South Rowan   10  9   19  8   — 46

South scoring — Dextraze 14, Ritchie 10, Childers 6, Cherry 6, Atwell 5, Morgan 3, Alston 2.

•••

CHINA GROVE — Freshman Julia Burleson had a big game for Carson’s girls, but it wasn’t enough.

Carson fell 61-37 to North Stanly. Burleson scored 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting.

“She competed all night and ran the floor well and got us some transition buckets,” Carson coach Brooke Stouder said.

Allie Martin had seven rebounds for the Cougars (0-3). Emma Carpenter had six rebounds. Jaydn Steele had three steals.

Carson’s effort was probably its best of the season.

“Much better than against A.L. Brown last week,” Stouder said. “But we shot 5-for-18 at the foul line and gave up 18 offensive rebounds in the first half. Those are two controllable stats and if we can improve at making free throws and boxing out it will allow us to improve and be more competitive.”

After a close first quarter, North Stanly took control by outscoring the Cougars 17-4 in the second quarter.

The Comets (2-0) got 20 points from Paris Bennett, 17 from Lexie Brown and 14 from Shalyn Bell.

North Stanly  15   17   22   7   — 61

Carson           12    4      9   6    — 37

Carson scoring — Burleson 15, Furr 5, McBride 5, Steele 5, Martin 4, Carpenter 3.

•••

SPENCER — North Rowan didn’t have No. 2 scorer Brittany Ellis and lost 65-50 to Albemarle on Tuesday.

The Bulldogs, who fell to defending 1A champ Bishop McGuinness in their opener, earned their first win.

North (1-1) got 24 points from Bailee Goodlett, who added four steals and four assists.

Bloom Goodlett scored a career-high 13 and had five rebounds.

Dasia Elder scored nine points.

North plays again tonight at East Rowan.

Albemarle             13    17   13   22   — 65

North Rowan       7      14   13   16   — 50

North scoring — Bailee Goodlett 24, Bloom Goodlett 13, Dasia Elder 9, Stoner 2, Wilson 2.

•••

MOORESVILLE — Freshman Tiara Thompson scored steadily and put up 18 points as West Rowan rolled past Mooresville 67-45 on Tuesday.

She’s scored 31 in her first two varsity games.

Emma Clarke added 12 for the Falcons, while Lauren Arnold had 10.

Foul trouble kept Jamecia Huntley on the bench for much of the night, but West has a lot of players. Ten of them scored.

Clarke bounced back from a two-point effort on opening night. She had five field goals in the first quarter as West (2-0) wasted no time in grabbing control of the game.

Mooresville cut West’s lead to 27-19 with a run to start the second quarter, but DeDe Cuthbertson’s only bucket of the game stopped Mooresville’s flurry and started a West run. By halftime, the Falcons led 41-22.

W. Rowan     26   15  12   14   — 67

Mooresville  10   12   8    12    — 45

West scoring — Thompson 18, Clarke 12, Arnold 10, Phifer 8, Tenor 5, Durham 4, Edwards 4, Huntley 2, Martin 2, Cuthbertson 2.