Honeycutt, a three-time all-county player, entered the final home game of her career in a slump. She had scored only 26 points in her previous three games, numbers completely out of context with those she had put up throughout her brilliant career.

Honeycutt slumped some more in last night’s first half, missing five of her last six shots before intermission. She missed layups, she missed free throws and she missed some rebounds that she ordinarily gets.

And she was hurting state playoff-bound North (14-6 overall, 7-4 CCC), which led an inspired Salisbury team at halftime by 30-24, only because junior jumping jack Courtney Hill had taken up Honeycutt’s slack and pounded the offensive glass for 10 points.

North coach Gary Atwell let Honeycutt know at halftime that he wasn’t at all happy.

“Coach Atwell got on me,” said Honeycutt. “He got me perked up. He sort of made me mad, but it was a good kind of mad.”

But there was no magic right away. Honeycutt promptly missed her first four shots of the third quarter, making fans wonder if maybe she had the flu.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Shoaf’s Hornets (6-17, 4-8) were taking full advantage of Honeycutt’s troubles. When Salisbury star forward Sherree Gillespie scored eight points in a flurry, the Hornets trailed just 38-36 with time running down in the third quarter.

“The ball seemed to be bouncing in for Salisbury,” said Atwell. “Things were going their way.”

“We were doing everything we wanted to do,” said Shoaf. “We were getting the ball to Sherree and Ternisha (Charleston) was on fire.”

Salisbury actually had a chance to tie the game, but turned the ball over. Then Honeycutt came to life.

First, she drove and drew Gillespie’s third foul and converted one free throw. Then, in the final 16 seconds of the quarter, she stole the ball two straight times in North’s press, once making a layup and once feeding Ashley Bowie for a score. Suddenly, as the quarter horn sounded, North was back on top 39-32.

And Honeycutt was far from done, dominating the fourth quarter with 11 more points, three more steals and six rebounds. In one stretch, she scored or assisted on 10 straight Cav points.

“I looked at the scoreboard late in the third quarter and said, ‘Gosh, I can’t believe it’s this close,’” explained Honeycutt. “That’s when I felt some pressure to do something. I wasn’t going to let us go down. Not on Senior Night.”

She didn’t.

“She put on a show, didn’t she?” asked a smiling Atwell, after Honeycutt canned a Scooter Sherrill-like barrage of turnarounds, fadeaways and runners. “I haven’t seen her take over like that in a long time. She just said, ‘By God, I’m going to start playing.’ And she sure did.”

“I was yelling at my girls to watch out for Courtney,” said Shoaf. “And then Megan started getting the ball. She took it to us.”

Honeycutt’s grand finale overshadowed an amazing road effort by the Hornets, but it shouldn’t.

Salisbury wound up losing by 20, but it was a 43-41 game with seven minutes left when Honeycutt went on a tear. And the Hornets trailed just 55-47 when they had to chase and foul down the stretch, enabling North to run away.

“Salisbury ran out of steam,” said Atwell. “But they’re the most improved team in the conference. They’ve got a pretty darned good team. We got 70 points because we forced a lot of turnovers, but we had a rough time scoring against their halfcourt defense.”

Hill finished with 18 points and 11 boards, while Honeycutt had a dozen rebounds and seven steals.

Joyce Hipps scored 10.

Gillespie scored 18 to lead Salisbury and got all of them from the field, a fact that left Shoaf less than enthusiastic about the officiating.

But Shoaf wore a smile every bit as big as Honeycutt and Atwell later in the evening, after she got word that North Stanly had beaten East Davidson, putting the Hornets in fourth place in the CCC and making them a part of the 2A state playoffs.

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NOTES: Cav seniors Toya Tucker and Nerissa Johnson also played their final home game. Johnson got her first career start. ... North had not scored 70 points in any of its previous 10 CCC games. ... Bowie tied her season high with six points.

SALISBURY (50) — Gillespie 18, Chunn 6, Charleston 9, Reilly 5, Robinson 2, Seay 2, Bauk 2, Taylor 4, Edwards 1, Atkinson 1, Wingerson.

NORTH ROWAN ( 70) — C.Hill 18, Honeycutt 22, Tucker 5, Johnson, A.Hill 5, Hipps 10, Bowers, Bowie 6, Craige 4, Dunn.

Salisbury 13 11 12 14 — 50