The Trojans, who entered the night in first place in the South Piedmont Conference, shot 4-for-17 from the foul line in the second half and were stunned by inspired Kannapolis 43-41.

“We just didn’t show up,” said Trojan coach Scott Burleson. “We played a bad game and Kannapolis played a great game. The free throws, obviously, hurt us.”

It was a gut-wrenching loss for Burleson, because in effect his team gave a game back to all of the SPC’s numerous contenders.

The Trojans (8-4, 5-2) were undeniably hurt by having leading scorer Kristin Waffle playing at less that 100 percent. Waffle, suffered an ankle injury in the Trojans’ recent holiday tournament, and didn’t start. She still led Northwest’s scoring with 12 (along with Jenny Volpicelli) and rebounding with 13, but shot just 5-for-18 from the field and uncharacteristically missed five foul shots.

Kannapolis (4-8, 3-4) didn’t exactly shoot the lights out, but what the Wonders did do was play with passion. They turned the ball over 28 times (10 more than the Trojans) but made up for it with relentless hustle and hard work on the backboards.

Kannapolis’ quick youngsters take the ball to the basket better than they shoot it from outside, so the Wonders were helped by the fact that Northwest is a man-to-man defensive team.

“We thought it was a good matchup for us,” said Wonder coach Doug Wilson, who punched the air and hugged everyone in sight when the buzzer sounded. “I said all along this was a team we could beat. To be honest, it would have been a shame if we had lost this game, because we outplayed them.”

The Wonder upset came out of left field. Kannapolis, which starts three sophs and one freshman, has down-the-road potential, but looked hopeless just a couple of days earlier in a 71-33 loss to East Rowan.

“This may have been the biggest turnaround in hoops history,” said Wilson. “We went from losing by 38 points to beating the first place team in a couple of days.”

Northwest struggled to a 23-19 lead in a slow-moving, physical first half. But Kannapolis caught a break and jumped in front 29-27 when Kesha Johnson banked in a serendipitous 3-pointer late in the third quarter. Waffle’s layup midway through the fourth quarter tied the game at 35-35, but then the Trojans misfired on a number of free throws that could have given them control.

Instead, it was the Wonders who stepped forward. Johnson banked in a runner (this time she meant to) for a 37-35 lead and 5-5 Elise Stanback soared over everyone to score in the lane for a 39-35 lead with 2:47 remaining. Then Johnson fed Holly Morgan for a layup for a 41-36 lead with 45 seconds left. After Northwest closed to within 42-39 with 15 seconds remaining, Johnson coolly sank a free throw for a four-point lead. Volpicelli scored with two seconds left to cut the Wonders’ lead to two, but Kannapolis successfully got the ball inbounds after a timeout to seal Northwest’s fate.

It may be a corner-turning win for the Wonders, who got a handful of steals from Joanna Hutchinson, a combined 20 points inside from Morgan and Michelle Crosby and some big rebounds down the stretch from Tomekia Powell when Crosby, Morgan and Stanback were all saddled with four fouls.

“Everyone played well, but Johnson was spectacular,” said Wilson.

“We thought we had a big chance when we came down here,” said Johnson. “We all played together and we did it. This is the biggest game we’ve ever won on varsity.”

More big ones may be just around the corner.

KANNAPOLIS (43) — Powell 4, Connor, Allen 1, Hutchinson, Little, Johnson 11, Stanback 7, Crosby 8, Morgan 12.

NW CABARRUS (41) — Waffle 12, Archey 1, Edwards 3, Cobb 7, Baumgardner 3, Volpicelli 12, Walter 2, Damewood, Curtis 1.

Kannapolis 14 5 14 10 — 43