KANNAPOLIS — If A.L. Brown’s girls make their long-awaited return to the state playoffs this season, they’ll look back on Friday night’s 47-41 win over Piedmont as one of the keys.

This was simply a game they had to win, but it was also a game they had every reason to lose.

The Wonders are still playing without star point guard Kesha Johnson (who should return for the West Rowan game on Tuesday). That’s why this game appeared lost when Elise Stanback, the off-guard who is filling in at the point, picked up her third foul with 7:36 left in the second quarter and the Wonders already fighting for their lives.

It looked even shakier for coach Doug Wilson, when forward Holly Morgan, who leads the team in scoring along with Stanback, quickly followed her teammate to the bench with her third personal.

By halftime, the Wonders who had led early by six, trailed coach Priscilla Herring’s Panthers 23-21 and looked to be in deep trouble. It was the first time the Wonders (2-3, 1-1 South Piedmont Conference) had been down at the half this season.

But in the third quarter, Wilson found out some things about his team, namely that he still had a team even with Morgan and Stanback seated next to him and with Johnson wearing street clothes.

“We showed we had some depth and we showed it in the face of some tremendous adversity,” said Wilson. “But that’s why those kids on the bench practice — so they know what to do in games like this.”

Wonder defense was the key in the decisive third quarter and the key to that defense was backup guard Sara Rodgers.

Rodgers came off the bench and was immediately diving all over the place, forcing held balls, deflecting passes, getting the ball inside to Michelle Crosby and Tomekia Powell and startling the Panthers (2-2 SPC) with her intensity.

“It was one of those games when everybody had to step up and help,” said Rodgers, who’s best known for her cross-country prowess. “But that’s what being a team is all about. That’s what makes it fun.”

Wilson knew his team wasn’t going to get much done offensively without Johnson, Stanback or Morgan on the floor, but in the third quarter his team played defense like it hasn’t played it before. His team outscored the Panthers 13-4.

It helped that Wilson switched from the 1-3-1 the Wonders used in the first half to a 2-3 zone. That helped Powell and Crosby box out Piedmont’s tall Jennifer Smith, who had pounded the glass for 11 first-half points.

Crosby, who would get eight of her game-high 17 rebounds in the third quarter, hit three free throws to put the Wonders back ahead 24-23 early in the third quarter. Then Rodgers made an impossible turnaround bank shot for a three-point lead. Then, with 4:47 to go in the quarter, Stanback came bouncing back on to the floor and took charge. She scored in transition, then took a baseball pass from Crosby and outran everyone for a layup. Suddenly, the Wonders were up 34-27 and headed for home.

Powell came up with a big fourth-quarter follow shot right over the top of Smith to short-circuit a Panther comeback try.

Then the Wonders went to their delay game and Stanback, Morgan, Crosby and Tina Brown put in clutch free throws down the stretch.

“I can’t tell you how big this game was,” said Wilson. “We had lost three straight (two to unbeaten North Rowan and one to unbeaten Central Cabarrus) and dropping this one would have been hard on us mentally.

“We know if we’re going to move up in this league, Piedmont is one of the teams we’re going to have to beat twice. We just couldn’t lose to them at home. And you know something, we didn’t lose. The kids showed an awful lot of character.”

n

NOTES:Guard Kelly Ellis kept Piedmont in the game with 17 points, including two fourth-quarter 3-pointers. ... Powell led the balanced Wonders with 10 points. ... Wilson, who plays West on Tuesday, declared the Falcons the best team in Rowan County. Reminded that he had called North the best team in the county after losing to the Cavs on Wednesday, he laughed. “Yeah, that’s true. And the day before we play East, I’ll say that East is the best.”

Girls

PIEDMONT (41) — Ellis 17, Smith 13, Price 5, Hinkel 2, Greene 2, Melton 2.

A.L. BROWN (47) — Powell 10, Stanback 9, Crosby 8, Brown 8, Hutchinson 5, Rodgers 4, Morgan 3, Similton.

Piedmont 9 14 4 14 — 41

A.L. Brown 12 9 13 13 — 47