The Mustangs converted only 37.5 percent of their shots from the floor in an unexpected 49-48 SPC loss to visiting Piedmont.

“We haven’t shot the ball well all year, with the exception of a couple games,” coach Randy Bingham lamented after third-place East slipped to 6-4 in the conference and 12-6 overall. “It’s frustrating when you watch that night after night after night. You’re not gonna win when you shoot the ball like that.”

Senior forward Emily Rich, who led the Mustangs with 14 points despite shooting 6-for-15 from the field, echoed that sentiment. “This happens to us sometimes,” she said. “We’re not consistent. One night we have a great game and the next time out we can’t shoot.”

Bingham was particularly peeved with the Mustangs sloppy work under the offensive basket. East had more than its share of second chances but repeatedly misfired from close range.

“I thought we got back to some bad habits that we had the first of the year,” the rookie coach explained. “We’d get a rebound and we’d just throw it back up there. We didn’t shoot the ball, we threw it. I don’t know what people were thinking.”

Piedmont (5-5 SPC, 11-5 overall) used the inside play of 6-1 Jennifer Smith (18 points) and 6-0 Morgan Hinkel (11 rebounds) to carve out a nine-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. It would prove insurmountable.

“We knew we outsized them and wanted to dominate the middle,” said Piedmont coach Lana Penley. “Then in the end we went to a gimmick defense — a triangle-and-two on (Brooke) Misenheimer and (Nicole) Loggins. We may have gotten a little shaken when they came back, but we held them off.”

East certainly sprinted toward the finish line, receiving clutch baskets from Lora Williams, Emily Rich and Stephanie Morgan to draw within 47-45 with only 12 seconds to go. A second later the Lady Panthers secured their victory when junior Kelly Ellis made a pair of free throws.

“We’ve got to play an entire game instead of just a quarter or a half,” said Misenheimer, who collected 10 assists. “You can’t wait until the last two minutes to hit a spurt. That was the problem. We never got into a groove. We never got going.”

That’s something East will have to correct ASAP if it hopes to defend its conference championship. It visits second-place West Rowan tonight.

“This really puts us in a bad position,” said Bingham. “We’ve got to win every game to even be close. That shouldn’t be. We’ve lost a couple games that we shouldn’t have even thought about losing. I’m not saying this is one of them, because Piedmont came in here and outhustled us. They outplayed us.”

Indeed, it was an alarm-sounding loss for the Mustangs, who had won three of their previous four games.

“We don’t show a lot of intensity out there,” said Bingham. “I don’t know if that’s my fault or their fault. But if we don’t pick up the pace, we’re going exactly nowhere.”

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NOTES: Loggins, the county’s fourth-leading scorer, remains mired in an uncanny slump. She shot 3-for-11 from the floor and scored 11 points, giving her a total of 17 in East’s past three outings. Defensively, she contributed four steals. ... East beat Piedmont, 56-46, on Dec. 3...The Mustangs made 18 of their 48 field goal attempts and held Piedmont without a basket over the final 3:42.

PIEDMONT (49) — Smith 18, Ellis 13, Daniels 8, Ossman 6, Hinkel 4, Taylor, Greene, Reiman, Sexton, Seate.

EAST (48) — Rich 14, Loggins 11, Williams 10, Misenheimer 9, Alexander 2, Morgan 2, Roberts, Poole,Haynes.

Piedmont 10 10 14 15 — 49