Staff report

GRANITE QUARRY — West Rowan’s girls basketball senior class has an undefeated record against a lot of teams.

One of those teams is East Rowan. The Falcons made it 11 straight against the Mustangs on Friday with a 69-31 victory.

It was actually the closest West-East game in a while. West won 79-22 in Mount Ulla earlier this season. It was 81-21 and 69-9 last season.

West put four in double figures, which is standard for the Falcons. Lauren Arnold led with 18. Tiara Thompson (13), Emma Clarke (11) and De’Mya Phifer (10) also scored efficiently. Makaylah Tenor added eight.

East got a career game from Sadie Featherstone, who scored 10, but East’s normal top scorers — Mary Church, Hannah Waddell and Kady Collins — combined for only a dozen points. West’s defensive pressure does that to a lot of teams.

The Mustangs (9-9, 5-6) aren’t bad — they have a chance to make the playoffs — but West, with five talented and cohesive seniors in its top six, has a dominant squad, one of the elite teams in the state, not just 3A. West (16-1, 10-0) has won 14 in a row since a hotly contested loss to Lake Norman, one of the best 4As.

West has a roster that could eventually boast four 1,000-point players. Mars Hill recruit Arnold has scored more than 1,300 points now, while Phifer recently surpassed the 1,000-point milestone. Thompson, a sophomore, is getting close to 600 points and is a sure thing for way more 1,000, as long as she stays healthy.

The fourth 1,000-point scorer could be Clarke. A month ago, it looked like the post player would fall a little short, but now she’s scored in double figures in eight straight games. She raised her career total to 881 on Friday and is averaging more than 12 points per game.

If Clarke does reach 1,000, it would be an unexpected accomplishment because she is softball first. She likes basketball, but it’s not like she gets to work on hoops with her teammates during the summer. She’s hitting and fielding softballs. She shows up for basketball as soon as volleyball season is over and manages to fit right in with a new group of girls.

She was All-State in volleyball and she’ll be All-State in softball unless truly remarkable happens. She could win softball state player of  the year awards. But basketball is the only sport where she’s been a state champion, so it’s very special for her. Scoring 1,000 would add some meaningful memories, some icing to the cake.

The Falcons are still No. 2 in the 3A West RPI rankings. AC Reynolds, an Asheville school, is No. 1. There are no unbeaten teams in 3A West. East Lincoln is the third team in 3A West that has only one loss.

AC Reynolds’ opponents have won 70 percent of their games, while West Rowan’s opponents have won 55 percent. That’s the factor giving the Rockets the RPI edge on the Falcons.

If West Rowan can stay at No. 2, it would guarantee a string of home playoff games. The NCHSAA has scheduled a neutral site Final Four this season at Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem for all classifications. For West Rowan fans who had to travel to McDowell County for last season’s regional final against East Lincoln, that’s welcome news.

For East Rowan, the challenge is to get in the 3A West playoff bracket of 32. East is on the bubble, currently No. 31 in the 3A West RPI rankings.

Central Cabarrus, which has beaten East twice, is No. 32, which has to make the Vikings wonder about the system.

It’s highly unlikely that East, which has six league losses, can finish ahead of Central, which has three, in the South Piedmont Conference standings. Regardless of how the RPI rankings shake out at the end of the season, with the NCHSAA’s leap-frog provision, East can’t make the playoffs ahead of Central.

Central does have a tough week coming up — Northwest Cabarrus, followed by West Rowan. That’s a no-fun week.

West Rowan   28    19    14   8   —  69

East Rowan      6       11    7     7     — 31

WEST — Arnold 18, Thompson 13, Clarke 11, Phifer 10, Tenor 8, Martin 5, Edwards 4.

EAST — S. Featherstone 10, Church 5, Collins 4, Waddell 3, Wise 3, Stepp 3, Miller 2, Smith 2.