“We made a commitment to win five in a row,” said the first-year Mustang coach. “Tonight, we kept that going so I’m real proud of the girls We’re coming around at the right time.”

Of course, win No. 5 was probably the easiest of the streak. Last-place Sun Valley was the host but East had the most, running away with a 71-54 victory in the South Piedmont Conference regular season finale for both teams.

East (11-5, 17-7) will play on, preparing for a Monday night home game as the tournament’s fourth seed. Sun Valley (1-14, 2-18) goes home — period. As the last place club in a nine-team league, it has been ousted from the tournament.

Which miffs Bingham a bit.

“They played us a good first quarter and they played us tough for two quarters up at our place,” Bingham said. “I don’t think their record does them justice.”

Especially in the first eight minutes Friday night. The suddenly inspired Spartans beat East’s 1-3-1 zone and led several times, the last at 16-15. Only a Nicole Loggins layup off a feed from Brooke Misenheimer gave the Mustangs the lead after one, 17-16.

“In girls ball, you just never know what will happen,” shrugged Bingham.

East led just 19-18 when it finally built some breathing room. Emily Rich drilled a jumper and fed Michelle Haynes for a bucket. Misenheimer hit two free throws, Lora Williams went outside for a 3-pointer and Julie Alexander hit two foul shots to end an 11-2 run and give East its first double-digit lead at 30-20.

Most of the points came off turnovers created by Loggins and Misenheimer. Both would finish with seven thefts.

“If you run our press right, it can be a big boost,” said Bingham. “I thought Brooke and Nicole played well and had some good steals.”

There would be no more hard times for East in this game. Loggins and Misenheimer stroked 3s late in the second quarter for a 40-26 lead at halftime.

The Mustangs finished the third quarter on an 13-2 spurt for a 59-34 edge. Loggins had her third straight five-point quarter. All told, eight different players scored.

After Misenheimer hit a three-pointer to open the fourth, Bingham cleared his bench.

With the starters yelling their approval from the sidelines, there was no letup. Carrie Goodnight hit four straight free throws and Alexander did the rest, scoring five in the final eight minutes and nine for the game. She was 7-for-8 from the line.

“I was glad to see Julie get that much playing time,” Bingham said of his junior. “She hadn’t been getting as much as I wanted. She could be a big help next year — and hopefully a big help the rest of this year.”

Now, the hot Mustangs go into the SPC Tournament with thoughts of winning the whole thing.

“Our league is real suspect, I think,” Bingham said. “A lot of teams are like us — relatively inexperienced. We have Brooke and Nicole but if they have off nights, we struggle. If we’ll just play aggressively, we can play with most everybody.”

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NOTES: East’s free throw shooting had both sides oohing and aahing. The Mustangs were 8-for-9 from the line in the second quarter and 8 of 12 in the third, finishing 27-for-39. “Normally, we shoot our free throws pretty well,” understated Bingham. ... East put four in double figures: Loggins 15, Rich 12, Williams 11 and Misenheimer 10. ... Mary Clark Roberts scored five points on 5-for-6 from the line. ... Free throw shooting helped ease the team’s 19-of-61 (31 percent) shooting from the field. ... East’s largest lead was 71-44 before Sun Valley scored the game’s final 10 points, eight on free throws.

EAST ROWAN (71) — Loggins 15, Rich 12, Williams 11, Misenheimer 10, Alexander 9, Roberts 5, Goodnight 4, Haynes 4, Poole 1, Ivey, Shaw, Morgan.

SUN VALLEY (54) — Stokes 15, McSheehey 14, Hey 9, Blanchard 5, Jachym 4, Payne 3, Burch 2, Cooke 2.

East Rowan 17 23 19 12 — 71