From staff reports

Wednesday games …

CONCORD — Robinson’s girls basketball team withstood Mary Church’s 16-point fourth quarter and beat East Rowan 59-52 to stay on top in the South Piedmont Conference.

Robinson got 25 points and a half-dozen blocks from Camri Hobbs, a 6-foot-3 point guard who is one of the state’s top juniors. The Bulldogs (12-4, 8-0) appear to be headed to the conference title at the halfway point as they beat second-place Northwest Cabarrus handily in their first meeting.

East Rowan (12-3, 5-3) had a 10-game winning streak stopped by the Bulldogs and fell into a tie for third place with Lake Norman Charter and Central Cabarrus.

“We played hard and we were able to slow Hobbs down a little in the second half with a box-and-one,” East head coach Bri Evans said. “It was a good showing. We would have beaten most teams tonight.”

Church, Rowan County’s scoring leader at 17.8 points per game, finished with 29 points, but the Bulldogs held her to two points in the first quarter. She wasn’t able to finish drives and despite plenty of contact, there weren’t many whistles. Hobbs had the defensive assignment on East’s No. 2 scorer, Sadie Featherstone, and made it tough for her to get off shots. Robinson was able to build a 19-11 lead after a quarter.

“We had some rust at the start, as we hadn’t been able to practice since last Thursday,” Evans said. “But we got better.”

Hobbs had 16 points by halftime. Robinson led 30-21 at the break.

The box-and-one defense, with Featherstone usually the defender assigned to try to keep the ball out of Hobbs’ hands, helped the Mustangs stay in the game in the third quarter, but Hobbs got enough help from her teammates. The Bulldogs built their biggest lead at 50-34 with five minutes left. in the game.

That’s when Church got really hot. She made three 3-pointers in the stretch run, as the Mustangs cut their deficit to 10. Lily Kluttz made a 3-pointer in the final seconds to make it a seven-point margin at the end.

Featherstone scored eight. Isis Smith had seven points and eight rebounds. Kady Collins made a 3-pointer in the second quarter.

East will take on North Rowan tonight.

East Rowan   11   10   10   21   — 52

Robinson       19  11   13    16   — 59

EAST scoring — Church 29, Featherstone 8, Smith 7, Collins 3, Kluttz 3, Miller 2.

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HUNTERSVILLE — Kynlee Dextraze sparked a strong first half by South Rowan at Lake Norman Charter.

Dextraze scored 10 points in the first quarter, and the Raiders led 23-20 at halftime, but the Knights rallied for a 62-43 South Piedmont Conference victory.

Dextraze finished with a season-high 20 points. The senior post player, who has signed with Lenoir-Rhyne’s softball program, is closing in on 800 career points in her second sport.

“We played a solid first half,” South head coach Alex Allen said. “The second half just got away from us. Some calls and some no-calls didn’t go our way and we hurt ourselves with some decisions that weren’t great. They were able to pull away, but I think it will be a good game when we play them at home.”

Day Pharr scored 11 points for the Raiders (5-9, 2-6).

Abby Courtney led Lake Norman Charter (9-5, 5-3) with 18 points. The Knights, who are tied for third with East Rowan and Central Cabarrus,  took control of the game with a 20-8 edge in the third quarter. Caroline Mercuri scored all of her eight points in the third quarter.

Reece Long scored 10 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter.

South plays at West Rowan on Friday.

South Rowan     12   11   8   12     — 43

LN Charter        9      11  20  22    — 62

SOUTH scoring — Dextraze 20, Pharr 11, Eagle 5, Fisher 5. Morgan 2.

•••

KANNAPOLIS — Lake Norman showed why it’s at the top of the 4A West RPI rankings by romping 73-16 at A.L. Brown.

Lake Norman (12-1, 3-0) led  53-12 at halftime in the Greater Metro Conference game against the Wonders (4-10, 0-4).

The Wonders take on South Iredell on Thursday.

 

 

 

 

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