Staff report

SALISBURY — It was one of those night when walls came tumbling down.

A lot of people thought North Rowan’s girls basketball team had a good chance in the Salisbury gym on Friday, but not many fans on either side of the bleachers saw the magnitude of North’s victory coming.

The Cavaliers, coached by former Livingstone player Darra Walker who is in her second season at the helm, jumped on the Hornets from the outset in a 1A/2A Central Carolina Conference showdown, led 18-5 after a quarter and won 73-47.

Salisbury (11-5, 5-1) fought back to 21-15 in the second quarter on a Shamya Arnold layup, but North built the lead back to 10 by halftime.

When North (10-3, 4-0) scored the first five points of the second half to go up by 15, there no longer was any doubt where this one was headed. The lead reached 20, and it just kept going.

While it was North’s night, a night the Cavaliers have been building for, a night they earned, the streaks that ended were a reminder of just how good the Hornets have been under the direction of coach Lakai Brice, who won her 200th game with the program last Monday.

Salisbury’s winning streak in Central Carolina Conference regular season games ended at 59. That includes running the table when the CCC had 10 2A teams and was very deep.

Salisbury’s winning streak against rival North Rowan ended at 15 in a row. The Cavaliers came out on top against the Hornets for the first time since they beat them three times in 2015-16.

The Hornets handled North 56-39 in the first round of the recent Christmas tournament, but everyone knew  the Cavaliers were missing 40 percent of their starting lineup — the Goodlett twins — in that one.

On Friday, the Goodletts were playing their third game since their return to the floor.

Bailee scored 27 and is going to be good for at least 27 on any night in the CCC. She’s really quick, and it’s a difficult task to keep her from getting to the rim or getting to the foul line. Bloom isn’t a big scorer, but she’s one of North’s best five. Against Salisbury, she contributed eight points and made two 3-pointers.

In the six games that North played without the twins, Brittany Ellis had to take on a huge load and made a successful transition from second scorer to a starring role. She scored 22 on Friday with three 3-pointers. There may be some nights ahead in the CCC when she and Bailee score 30 apiece.

Dasia Elder also had to take more shots with the twins out, and has developed into a very solid, very confident player. She had two 3-pointers and eight points in the win over Salisbury.

Krisstyle Stockton likes to rebound and defend, so she’s the perfect fifth starter, and North’s bench got deeper while the twins were out. Some girls who weren’t playing a lot had to take on increased minutes and got better and more confident, so all the adversity North went through may have a silver lining and some long-term benefits.

Where do the Cavaliers go from here?

Well, North becomes the obvious favorite to win the CCC, but the breakthrough win against the Hornets could lead to much more than that.

If you can beat Salisbury, which is 11th in the 2A West RPI rankings, you should be able to handle almost anyone in 1A. North is now 10th in the 1A West RPI rankings and has beaten Albemarle, which is No. 3 in those rankings.

As far as the Hornets on Friday, they were led by 15 points by MaKayla Noble, who will be reaching the 1,000-point milestone soon. She’s at 940 now, which is remarkable when you remember that she was coming off the bench as a freshman and sophomore and she also missed games with injuries. She’s scored 312 points already this season.

Jamyrah Cherry scored 14 for the Hornets, Arnold had six and Torese Evans contributed five, but Salisbury struggled to match North’s firepower.

The Hornets will get back to work and will set their sights on trying to win the rematch in Spencer to share the CCC title. The last time North and Salisbury shared a league championship was in 2006.

Salisbury    5    14    15    13   — 47

North         18   11     27    17    — 73

NORTH ROWAN — Bailee Goodlett 27, Ellis 22, Bloom Goodlett 8, Elder 8, McArthur 4, Stockton 4.

SALISBURY — Noble 15, Cherry 14, Arnold 6, Evans 5, Zapta 3, Spruill 3, McCombs 1.