KANNAPOLIS — Northwest Cabarrus’ girls basketball team has West Rowan’s number.

Previously unbeaten West, a 47-35 loser at the Northwest gym Friday night, is 15-4 over two seasons in the 3A South Piedmont Conference. Three of those losses have been to the Trojans.

“It was just not a good performance on our part,” said coach Angie Waddell of West. “Of course, Northwest did play hard and did everything they needed to do to win tonight.”

Waddell’s Falcons dropped to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the SPC. Coach Scott Burleson’s Trojans improved to 5-1 and 3-1, losing only to unbeaten Central Cabarrus.

West had trouble holding onto the ball against a Northwest team that played aggressive man-to-man defense. The Falcons had 15 turnovers in the first half and 26 for the night.

“You face a team that’s got pretty good defense and you come out flat and make turnovers, you can’t expect to win very many ballgames,” said Waddell. “We didn’t do what we needed to do to win. Northwest played us real hard defensively. We just were way out of sync tonight — very unfocused, very undisciplined. You could see it on our faces.”

Jenny Volpicelli played the hardest defense for the Trojans, coming up with six steals. She was also 5-for-10 on field goals and 5-for-6 at the foul line, scoring a game-high 15 points. She grabbed seven rebounds, sharing the team high with Rose Florence, and contributed a couple of assists. Teammate Chrissy Killian came off the bench for 10 points.

Sara Pieper was West’s scoring leader with nine points, while reserve Jenny Sloop led the way on the boards with seven rebounds.

Northwest outrebounded West 33-31, mainly because the Falcons’ senior center, Shameeka Wansley, went out with a shoulder injury after playing only two minutes and 40 seconds. Wansley ran into the gymnasium wall while trying to make a steal at midcourt.

“It’s dislocated. She went for a ball and ran into it (the wall). Accidents do happen. She gave it all. It’s just very unfortunate,” said Waddell. “Our trainer (Larry Sides) couldn’t get it back in place.” Sides accompanied Wansley to the hospital during the game.

Wansley had three rebounds and a basket as West jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the opening minutes.

Northwest bounced back to take a 17-14 halftime lead and was on top 29-21 in the third quarter.

That’s when the Falcons made one last run, getting a basket by reserve Natalie Jones, another by Danielle Scearce and two free throws by Jenny Sloop to finish the third period.

Kristen McNeely then scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter for a 31-29 advantage, West’s last lead of the night.

Volpicelli hit two baskets to regain the lead for the Trojans, who went on to outscore the Falcons 16-6 in the final five minutes.

“I told them you can learn a lot from a loss,” said Waddell. “I think they know where they stand as far as working together and getting disciplined. And if things get disorganized, you’ve got to find a way to come together. I think they realize that. I think we will definitely learn from the loss.”

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NOTES: The Falcons had been involved in only one reasonably close game before last night, winning by 32, 25, 34, 10 and 17 points. ... Northwest was 16-for-52 (30.8 percent) on field goals and 14-for-20 at the foul line, while the Falcons went 14-for-39 (35.9 percent) from the floor and 7-for-17 at the line. ... The Trojans had 17 turnovers, nine less than West. ... West returns to action at A.L. Brown on Tuesday.

WESTROWAN (35) — Pieper 9, Scearce 3, Wansley 2, Hampton 6, McNeely 4, Sloop 5, Jones 6, Dowdy.

NORTHWEST CABARRUS (47) — Volpicelli 15, Florence 2, Baumgardner 9, Archey, Edwards 2, Willems, S. Morrison 1, Killian 10, Dobard 2, Damewood 6.

West Rowan 10 4 13 8 — 35

NW Cabarrus 8 9 12 18 — 47