Staff report

SALISBURY — North Rowan’s Goodlett twins missed their fourth straight game on Thursday night, so the Cavaliers didn’t have the firepower to hang with Salisbury for 32 minutes.

Fourth-seeded North tried. It was still a one-point game early in the second quarter, but Shamya Arnold and MaKayla Noble propelled the Hornets to a 30-19 halftime lead and they pulled away for a 56-39 victory in the Dale’s Sporting Goods Sam Moir Christmas Classic.

Noble scored 20 points and blocked several shots. Arnold scored 16, one shy of her career high. Jamyrah Cherry scored eight and made a lot of plays to set up her teammates.

Fifth-seeded Salisbury (6-3) won its sixth in a row.

Dasia Elder shot the ball well to keep the Cavaliers (5-3) in the game early. She made two 3-pointers and scored 12. North got a career game from Zakia Oglesby who scored 11 and led the rebounding for the Cavaliers.

Salisbury held high-scoring Brittany Ellis to eight points. Kriststyle Stockton also scored eight.

The Cavaliers are in noon consolation action on Friday against Carson.

Salisbury advanced to a 6 p.m. semifinal against top-seeded A.L. Brown.

North          12      7      9      11    — 39

Salisbury    16    14     9      17    — 56

NORTH — Elder 12, Oglesby 11,  Ellis 8, Stockton 8.

SALISBURY — Noble 20, Arnold 16, Cherry 8, McCombs 6, Evans 4, Spruill 2.

•••

SALISBURY — Undefeated A.L. Brown shook off some rust and pounded Carson 60-17 in a first-round Moir game.

The top-seeded Wonders (7-0) had not played since Dec. 8.

Carson scored first when a 3-pointer got a nice bounce, its first lead of the season. The Wonders went in front 5-3 on a 3-pointer by Sadie Faulkner.

Eighth-seeded Carson (0-8) was only down 10-3 after a quarter, but it’s a challenge for the Cougars to score, and the Wonders led 34-10 at the break.

A.L. Brown was able to trigger a running clock when it took a 40-point lead with about five minutes left.

Jah’nae Stevens, 6-foot-1 center, did considerable damage inside and led the Wonders with 17 points. Faulkner, an impressive athlete who runs the show for the Wonders, scored 14, and Ayanni Flood made some bombs to score 10.

Only three Cougars scored. Caylee Snow and Rylee Hedrick had seven each. Leanna Baldwin scored three.

The Wonders will take on Salisbury in a 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday. The Hornets have won six in a row and won the last two 2A state championships.

Carson will play in a noon consolation game against North Rowan.

Carson              3    7        7     0    — 27

A.L. Brown      10   24    16    10    — 60

•••

SALISBURY — Central Davidson conducted a clinic in half-court offense and cruised to a 65-40 win against East Rowan to open the Moir tournament on Thursday morning.

Raegan McCarn hit three 3-pointers early as the third-seeded Spartans (9-3) jumped on top. The sixth-seeded Mustangs (4-5) were able to cool McCarn off after that early spree, but the Spartans shot a lot of layups and got scoring from 10 different players.

No one had a hot hand for East. Kady Collins scored eight, while Mary Church had seven.

Central led by 12 at halftime and put the Mustangs away in the third quarter, expanding their lead to 48-28.

East will play in a 9 a.m. consolation game against South Rowan on Friday.

Central Davidson shot 50 percent from the field and 75 percent from the foul line.

Central Davidson will play in a 3 p.m. semifinal against West Rowan.

East                        8        12      8      12      — 40

C. Davidson        15      17      16     17       — 65

EAST — Collins 8, Church 7, Kluttz 4, Stepp 4, Smith 4, Marshall 4, Waddell 3, Wise 3, Oglesby 2, Alderman 1.

CENTRAL — McCarn 13, Trantham 9, M. Garrson 9, Shoaf 8, Thomas 8, A. Garrison 6, Myers 4, Weaver 3, Elliott 3, Kinley 2.

•••

SALISBURY — West Rowan knocked out South Rowan right away with its defensive pressure, taking a 22-2 lead after a quarter and romping 72-24.

De’Mya Phifer made a 3-pointer four seconds into the game to start the scoring. in the first-round Moir game.

It was 52-8 at the half. The second half was played with a running clock.

Second-seeded West (7-1) got 16 points from Lauren Arnold, 13 from Tiara Thompson and 11 each from Phifer and Mya Edwards.

The Falcons, defending 3A champs and defending tournament champs, got scoring from 10 players.

Ari Alston led seventh-seeded South (1-7 with seven points.

South plays East Rowan in the early consolation game on Friday. West will take on Central Davidson in the 3 p.m. semifinal.

South    2     6     7    9    — 24

West     22  30  11    9    — 72

SOUTH — Alston 7, Eagle 5, Morgan 4, Carter 4, Krieg 2, Dextraze 2.

WEST — Arnold 16, Thompson 13, Phifer 11, Edwards 11, Hoffner 7, Wilson 4, Tenor 3, Martin 3, Clawson 2, Clarke 1.