CONCORD — Nicole Loggins started the game on the bench but finished with a record.The 5-10 senior guard scored 22 points,
leading East to a 74-51 revenge victory over Concord, and broke East’s school career
scoring record in the process.
The 23-point victory moved East
into a tie for third place with Concord and kept the Mustangs’ hopes alive for
finishing in a tie for second.
Coach Randy Bingham’s East
team improved to 16-7 overall and 10-5 in the league, while Concord dropped to 16-6 and
10-5.
Loggins, a Western Carolina
University signee, didn’t start for a minor disciplinarian problem. After entering
the game early, she struggled with her shot, going 1-for-10.
After that, the senior was on
fire, finishing at 9-for-22 with two 3-pointers. The 22-point effort pushed her career
total to 1,288, surpassing last year’s teammate, Julie Austin(1,279) on East’s
all-time list.
“Before the game, everybody
was telling me not to think about it,” said Loggins. “If I did think about it, I
wouldn’t have broken it. I know that. So I didn’t think about it, and I did real
good.”
The 1-for-10 start didn’t
concern her.
“I always start pretty slow.I
figured if I kept shooting, it would come around. That’s (9-for-22) not bad, but
it’s not good,” she said.
“It (the school record) means
very, very much to me.I’m very happy that I got it. My teammates congratulated me.It
feels good,” she added.
When East led 36-23 at halftime,
Loggins and her teammates talked about their home game with Concord on Jan. 7, when the
Spiders rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit to win 55-54.
“We thought about that a
little at halftime and said, ‘This is the same thing that happened at home. They came
back.’ We had to keep our intensity up, and you saw that in the second half. Our
intensity really got up ... We played more aggressive,” said Loggins.
East stretched its lead to 20 at
50-30 on a Loggins 3-pointer with 2:05 left in the third period. Concord fought back to
within 12 in the fourth period, but the Spiders could get no closer.
As for not starting, Loggins said,
“I had a little trouble with my teachers; it’s fair. I understood when he
(Bingham ) did it.”
“It wasn’t much of
anything, just enough to maybe get her attention a little bit. She’s a good
girl,” said her coach.
“She scored several clutch
baskets for us there at the end when they started coming back. She had a good game, I
thought,” added Bingham.
“I liked the way we hustled
tonight.I thought that made the whole difference in the ball game,” said Bingham.
“I think our kids were embarrassed about what happened at our gym a month ago. I
think that game gave us a reality check about what we need to do. They came out and played
hard tonight.”
“This was a big game, it
really was,” said Loggins. “I know this might help out West and Northwest,
whoever’s ahead of us, but we had to win this to keep us in line, and we did good at
that.”
West Rowan is in first place at
12-3, followed by Northwest Cabarrus at 11-4.
“This thing could be a
three-way tie for second,” said Bingham, hoping Piedmont can upset Northwest on
Friday at Piedmont.
“We wanted to win five in a
row. If we can win Friday night (at Sun Valley), this will make five in a row for
us,” said Bingham. “That would be a good way to end our regular season up, to
give us a little momentum going into the tournament.
First-round girls games in the SPC
Tournament are set Monday. East is the three-time defending champion.
n
NOTES: Point guard Brooke
Misenheimer (16), forward Emily Rich(14) and forward Lora Williams (10) joined Loggins in
double figures. ... East shot 50 percent (31-for-62) on field goals and went 10-for-16 at
the foul line. ... Center Candis Spratt paced the Spiders with a double-double ‚ 21
points and 13 boards. Guard Chel Sumlin added 15 points. ... Concord was only 22-for-60 on
field goals (36.7 percent) and 3-for-8 on free throws. ... Spratt paced the Spiders to a
33-31 edge on the boards. Williams led East with eight. ... Misenheimer had seven assists
for East, while Emily Taylor led Concord with five. ... Concord closes outs its regular
season at Kannapolis A.L. Brown on Friday.
EAST ROWAN (74) — Rich 14,
Morgan 8, Williams 10, Poole, Misenheimer 16, Loggins 22, Roberts 2, Haynes, Alexander 2,
Goodnight, Ivey, Shaw.
CONCORD (51) — Edwards,
Sumlin 15, Spratt 21, Taylor 8, Weant, Lynch 3, Patton 4, Russell.
East Rowan 18 18 18 20 — 74
Concord 12 11 15 13 — 51 |
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