High school basketball playoffs: West, North girls, both Salisbury teams advance to Round 3

Published 12:01 am Friday, February 24, 2023

From staff reports

Rowan basketball teams went 4-0 in the second round of the state playoffs on Thursday.

The West, North and Salisbury girls will be at home for Round 3 on Saturday. Times TBA.

West will play No. 9 seed Ashe County, which won on the road No. 8 Parkwood. North will take on (Valdese) Draughn, which upset top-seeded Mountain Heritage. Salisbury will play (High Point) T.W. Andrews.

Salisbury’s boys will travel to Lenoir to play third-seeded West Caldwell.

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MOUNT ULLA — Freshman Tiara Thompson made four 3-pointers in the first quarter as West Rowan’s girls devastated another opponent.

Thompson finished with 20 points in the top-seeded Falcons’ 89-38 3A romp over 16th-seeded North Davidson (18-9).

West put five in double figures, with De’Mya Phifer (18), Lauren Arnold (15), Makaylah Tenor (12), Emma Clarke (10) joining Thompson. Jamecia Huntley scored eight.

The Falcons (27-0) led 46-19 at halftime and had a 40-point lead by the end of the third quarter.

Madison McNair and Lettie Michael scored 12 each for the Black Knights.

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SALISBURY — In a 2A game,  Salisbury survived a cold-shooting second quarter and beat Forbush 48-37.

MaKayla Noble led the Hornets with 21 points and got eight in the fourth quarter. Kyla Bryant, who had a big third quarter, scored 17.

The third-seeded Hornets (23-3) started strong and led 11-0 at the outset, but 14th-seeded Forbush trailed only 16-13 at the half.

Shamya Arnold scored Salisbury’s only three points of the second quarter.

Haley Dalton got into foul trouble in the first half, but had a big defensive game for the Hornets.

Forbush (19-9) couldn’t catch up but was able to hang in the game all the way.

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SPENCER — North Rowan junior point guard Bailee Goodlett broke the school record for points in a season as the eighth-seeded Cavaliers beat ninth-seeded Highlands 47-38 in a competitive 1A game.

Goodlett scored 21, giving her 776 for the season. Stephanie Cross had held the school record since 1993-94.

Bloom Goodlett also came through for the Cavaliers (20-8). She made two 3-pointers and scored 12 points.

Brittany Ellis had 11 points.

Bailee Goodlett scored 12 in the first quarter to push the Cavaliers to a 17-14 lead. North led 30-24 at the break.

Highlands ended the season 19-7.

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SALISBURY — Salisbury’s sixth-seeded boys got 18 points from Juke Harris — all in the first three quarters — and got past East Surry 60-56 in a tough 2A game.

With a number of college coaches looking on, Harris made a 3-pointer as he was fouled in the third quarter. That play gave him the school and county record for points scored in a season. He has scored 771.

Bobby Phillips had held the record with 767 since the 1993-94 season.

Jonathan Ross was huge for the Hornets (21-5), as they won their 14th in a row. He scored 14 points, with a dozen coming on corner 3s.

Mike Geter scored 11, while Hank Webb had 10.

East Surry (13-13), a 22 seed, stayed in in the game all the way with some extraordinary foul shooting.

Salisbury led by nine heading for the stretch run, but East Surry made three straight 3-pointers to tie the game. Ross made the critical plays with a tie-breaking 3-pointer and a steal for a layup.