Catholic’s Cougars built up a 21-point fourth-quarter lead and eventually won 64-57 in the state 2A Sectional 2 semifinals.

North, the No. 3 seed from the Central Carolina Conference, finished 16-8.

Catholic (21-4), the No. 1 seed from the Rocky River Conference, earned a sectional championship contest against HighPoint Central (24-3), the CCC’s No. 1 seed, at 3 p.m. Saturday in Asheboro.

“They’re a good team,” said North coach Gary Atwell of Catholic. “I don’t know how well they will match up with High Point Central. Central’s so quick. I think Central will give them a hard time.”

The inside-outside combination of 5-11 junior center Shannon Wilfong (24 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots) and senior guard Stephanie Moser (18 points, three assists) was too much for North’s Cavaliers last night.

“She (Wilfong) was tough,” said Atwell. “She’s got good moves and she knows what to do around the basket. ... She moved without the ball and got herself open. They did a good job of feeding her.”

Wilfong was 10-for-14 on field goals and 4-for-6 at the foul line.

“We have been dominating with our post players, so I was pretty confident there,” said coach Amy Walters of the Cougars. “They’ve been improving every game and playing really well together.”

Wilfong’s total numbers are misleading, because she didn’t do much after the Cougars went to a spread offense late in the third quarter. She had 23 points, 15 rebounds and four blocked shots through three periods.

The right-handed Moser, who sat out last week’s RRC tourney with a thumb injury, played with her shooting hand heavily taped. She didn’t start, but was a factor, going 6-for-10 from the floor with three 3-pointers.

“We missed that in the conference tournament,” said Walters. “We lost her, and she’s used to scoring 15 points.”

Catholic edged West Stanly by one point for the tourney title.

The Cavs trailed 54-33 after guard Liza Runey scored on Wilfong’s assist to start the fourth quarter, then senior forward Megan Honeycutt led North’s rally that made in interesting.

Honeycutt scored six points in a 12-0 run that cut the margin to nine at 54-45 with 3:36 to play.

The Cougars held off the threat by scoring the next six points and were up by 16 with about a minute to play.

Five quick points by Honeycutt and a steal and layup by reserve guard Ashley Bowie cut the Catholic lead to nine with 25 seconds to go, and Walters rushed several starters back in to protect the lead. Reserve guard Crystal Craig scored at the buzzer to make it a seven-point game.

When his team surged to within nine with 3:36 to play, Atwell had reason to get excited.

“I thought we had a chance. I thought we were going to make a good enough run, then we just couldn’t finish it,” he said.

Atwell’s team had played well in its previous four games, losing only to Ledford 45-44 on a last-second shot in the CCC Tournament semifinals. The Cavs had edged Bandys 77-76 in overtime on the road in their first-round sectional contest on Tuesday.

“I don’t feel like we gave them our best shot at all,” said Atwell. “The last three games we played so much better than we played tonight. We shot the ball so much better (46.7 percent) at Bandys.”

The Cavs were 24-for-65 (36.9 percent) on field goals last night.

“We missed stuff around the basket. ... It wasn’t one person. We all missed layups. We all missed three- and four-footers. They were taller than us, and that might have presented a problem,” said Atwell, “but we normally make those shots.”

Honeycutt led North’s scoring with 20 points in the final game of a great four-year career. She also grabbed 12 rebounds for a double-double and had several steals. Freshman guard Amber Hill added 13 points.

North was hurt by an early injury to junior point guard Joyce Hipps, who sprained her ankle with 3:50 to play in the first quarter. North trailed by only one point at that time.

Hipps, with her ankle taped, played sparingly the next two quarters, then a lot in the final period, but was obviously favoring her ankle, which affected her movement and shooting.

“It really hurt us,” said Atwell. “She runs the show. She’s the quarterback out there, the coach on the floor. She just wasn’t able to push it. She wasn’t able to do the things that she normally does.”

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NOTES: Catholic went 24-for-49 (49 percent) on field goals and 13-for-27 at the foul line. ... North was 7-for-14 on free throws. ... The Cougars dominated rebounding for three quarters but wound up with only a 37-34 edge because North hit the boards hard in the final period. ... North had only 11 turnovers, while the Cougars lost the ball 20 times.

NORTH ROWAN (57) — Honeycutt 20, Tucker 4, C.Hill 9, Hipps 5, A. Hill 13, Bowie 4, Craige 2.

CHARLOTTE CATHOLIC (64) —Sh. Wilfong 24, Kegg 11, Elliot 6, Runey 5, Rebhan, Dunaway, Rothe, Moser 18, Wilkins, St. Wilfong.

North Rowan 11 12 10 24 — 57