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LANDIS —The five words South Rowan girls coach James Greene bellows most frequently in the course of every basketball game are, “Take care of my ball!”
But Greene’s plea fell on deaf ears Wednesday night in the Raiders’ 57-46 loss to visiting Northwest Cabarrus. The Raiders did not take care of Greene’s ball. They made 35 turnovers — 21 of them in the second half — and it cost them what would have been their most impressive win in a long, long time.
South (2-7) did a lot of things very, very right against a very good Northwest team that is 7-1 and has lost only to Central Cabarrus, which hasn’t lost to anyone. The much rangier Raiders — South point guard Katie Willett was taller than the tallest Trojan most of the time — won the battle of the boards 52-35 and shot better from the field (34 percent to 28 percent).
“We knew this would be a tough game for us,” said Trojan coach Scott Burleson. “South is very big and physical, while we are very small and very quick. We had to make this game go up and down the floor as much as possible and press them into turnovers.”
Northwest was successful in imposing its favored tempo in the second half. Ultimately, that made the difference.
South jumped from the blocks with superior intensity, surprisingly roaring ahead 10-5 with center Brittany Gaddy — not surprisingly — scoring all 10 of those points on her way to a game-high 28.
South, perhaps a 20-point underdog based on Northwest’s 12-point win over West Rowan and South’s two lopsided losses to the Falcons, held the lead for the first 13 minutes. Northwest finally got even at 18-all and edged out to a 24-23 halftime advantage.
The critical stretch in the game came in the third quarter and the key was Trojan forward Jenny Volpicelli.
Volpicelli, who is perhaps 5-foot-8, scored six quick points with hard drives, then neutralized the 6-1 Gaddy for a five-minute stretch on the defensive end. Everything Burleson had tried on Gaddy in the first half had failed miserably— Gaddy had 19 of South’s 23 first-half points — but by placing Volpicelli in front of Gaddy and getting help from behind, he found a solution. Volpicelli soared to bat away several lob attempts and harassed Gaddy into a flurry of misses. And just like that the Trojans led by 14 at 37-23.
“Gaddy was hurting us,” said Burleson. “Sometimes you have to ask your best defensive player to step up and Jenny did that. She slowed her down for awhile.”
How good Volpicelli’s defense was, was pretty obvious. Five seconds after she sat down for her first third-quarter breather, Gaddy scored her first bucket of the quarter.
South never got even after Volpicelli’s dominant spurt, but it did get awfully close.
The Raiders pulled to within 45-43 with 3:16 remaining when Angela Efird passed to Lauren Raper for a layup. Then South had two possessions on which it could have tied. But Willett missed a jumper at 2:42 and Efird, who was fouled after a tough rebound, missed two free throws at 2:29.
After that, Volpicelli took charge again. She calmly stepped to the line and pushed the Trojan lead back to four with a pair of clutch free throws at 2:19. Then the other Trojans joined in with some solid foul shooting (17-for-30 for the game) as Northwest eased away down the stretch.
“We’re definitely improving and playing with more confidence,” said South coach James Greene. “But we still have to put four quarters together. The things that hurt us were unforced fouls and turnovers.”
Especially turnovers. If South can just take care of Greene’s ball, it’s ready to win consistently.
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NOTES:It was another phenomenal night for Gaddy, who had 21 rebounds and four blocks in addition to a scoring surge that equalled her career-high last season against A.L. Brown. It was Gaddy’s sixth game this season with over 20 points. ... Six-footer Alexis Blackwood added 10 boards for South. ... Volpicelli had 21 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and three blocks. ... Gaddy had 38 points in two games against the Trojans last season. ... Northwest has won the last three games in the series. ... South got just seven points at the line. ... The Trojans turned it over 17 times, only three times in the decisive third quarter. ... Aisha Khan hit South’s only 3-pointer.
NORTHWEST (57) — Archey 6, Edwards 9, Volpicelli 21, Killian 7, Dobard 4, Damewood 4, Baumgardner 2, Florence 2, S.Morrison 2.
SOUTH (46)— Gaddy 28, Raper 4, Khan 3, Miller 3, Willett 2, Efird 2, Yost 2, Blackwood 2.
Northwest 9 15 13 20 — 57
South Rowan 14 9 9 14 — 46
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