Staff report

CONCORD — Northwest Cabarrus’ girls basketball team was ready for West Rowan on Senior Night, and after five minutes the Trojans led the Falcons 12-10.

But then De’Mya Phifer got the ball to Emma Clarke for the first time, and the game quickly changed. Clarke scored for 12-all.

Then Tiara Thompson found Clarke on two straight possessions, and the reward was two more buckets, including the three-point play that gave the Falcons a 17-13 lead.

Clarke made her first five field-goal attempts, and that was the biggest factor as the Falcons started to pull away.

Lauren Arnold sat a lot in the first half with foul trouble, but Arnold scored on a twisting layup — Thompson again made the pass — for her first two points and a 39-25 halftime lead.

That was a pretty safe lead because it’s difficult to score consistently against West Rowan’s half-court defense. Northwest got very few easy shots, and West pushed its lead to 53-33 with 1:51 left in the third quarter on another Thompson-to-Arnold bucket.

With 2:48 left in the game, West held a secure 67-44 lead, but there was one more milestone to take care of.

Thompson beat backcourt pressure from the Trojans, and got the ball to Makaylah Tenor, who crossed mid-court and saw an opportunity to attack. Tenor got into the lane and whipped a pass to her left to Clarke. The pass looked like it might be too high, but Clarke had no trouble going up to get it. Then she made the short jump shot for 1,000 career points. She’s the third member of West’s senior class to get to the magic number, despite their COVID freshman season. Arnold made it as a junior, while Phifer got there earlier this season.

West finished a flawless SPC season for the second year in a row. The Falcons (22-1, 16-0) have won 20 in a row since losing to 4A Lake Norman and 53 out of their last 54.

Clarke had 19 points, 10 rebounds and five steals. She only had two blocks, although it appeared that a few more clean rejections drew whistles.

Thompson made two 3-pointers to keep West afloat when the Falcons were struggling early. She scored 17 and had a tremendous floor game. She piled up assists.

Mya Edwards (11), Phifer (11) and Arnold (10) also were in double figures.

Re’Ale Walton led NWC (18-5, 13-3) with 12 points.

West plays South Rowan at home on Monday in the first round of the SPC tournament, while second-seeded Northwest Cabarrus will host Lake Norman Charter.

West     20    19     17    17    — 73

NWC     16      9     11    12    — 48

WEST — Clarke 19, Thompson 17, Edwards 11, Phifer 11, Arnold 10

NWC — Walton 12, Hilsenroth 8, A’Yanah Moore 7, Ortscheid 6, A’Lanah Moore 6, Bell 5, Alberica 4.