How bad was it?

Bad enough that when reserve guard Britt Miller connected on a 3-pointer for her first points of the night — some 21 minutes into the game — she instantly became South’s No. 2 scorer.

South never quit — Raiders could still be seen diving for loose balls when they were down 25 points with a minute to go — but their shooting touch was on vacation in a 55-30 4A Central Piedmont Conference loss to visiting Davie County.

“They came in here and set the tempo,” said South coach James Greene. “And they stuck to it.”

And stuck it to South.

The game bore no resemblance whatsoever to the last meeting of the teams — a 45-43 Davie verdict in the Sam Moir Christmas Classic. This time, Carol Cozart’s War Eagles leaped on top 15-2 and never gave South the feeling it could make a game of it.

“We watched the film of our earlier game with North Davidson when we really jumped all over them,” said War Eagle guard Tina Harkness. “We decided that’s the way we were gonna play tonight.”

Harkness was the catalyst for the War Eagles (7-11, 1-2), personally outscoring South 12-5 in the second quarter as Davie built a monstrous 28-7 halftime lead.

“I’ve been in a slump,”Harkness said. “But my first shot went in and then they all started to fall.”

“All of their kids shot it well tonight,” said Greene. “Even kids who don’t usually don’t score for them were knocking them down.”

Harkness, who led Davie with 15 points, didn’t score in the second half, but didn’t have to. Teammate Julie McDaniel took up the slack, scoring eight of her 13 after intermission as the War Eagles stayed comfortably in front.

South (4-14, 1-2) scored the first points of the second half on a Morgan Andrews jumper, shut out Davie for the next two minutes with some aggressive man-to-man defense and looked ready to make a move. But that’s when Harkness sped downcourt and fed Emily Morton for an easy score, shifting the momentum back to the War Eagles for the rest of the evening.

“We knew we had to stay on them and play hard for four quarters,” said Harkness, who wasn’t shy about shouting at her teammates any time War Eagle intensity threatened to slack off.

Jennifer Morgan led South with 11 points and eight rebounds, but none of the other Raiders could get anything going on the offensive end.

South’s leading scorer, Brittney Gaddy, No. 3 in the county at 15.9 ppg, didn’t score at all.

Pretty amazing, considering that the 6-1 sophomore scored 16 in the first meeting with the War Eagles and had poured in 23 or more in three of her previous six outings.

But Gaddy was stopped cold by some solid Davie defense and foul trouble. She got her second and third personals in a span of 13 seconds in the second quarter and fouled out with 4:24 left in the third, with the frustrated Raiders trailing 30-10.

“When she fouled out, we just couldn’t believe it,” said Harkness.

Greene, on the other hand, could believe it. It had been that kind of night from the get-go.

“We have a couple of kids who have to play well for us to play well,” said Greene. “When they struggle, we all struggle.”

Greene was obviously disappointed, but vowed not to throw in the towel after his team failed to produce more than 30 points for the second straight game. He said his team had been working hard and would continue to work hard.

“I thought we hustled, especially in the second half ” he said. “If anything, we just over-executed. We were too unselfish and passed up shots we should take.”

n

NOTES: Davie hosts R.J. Reynolds tonight. South hosts Mount Tabor. ... McDaniel made eight straight free throws. ... Mandy Yost and Angela Efird also made 3s for South. ... One positive note for South: eight Raiders scored.

DAVIECOUNTY (55) — Hamm 2, Williams 7, McDaniel 13, Hepler, Raynor, Gajewski 5, Morton 4, Harkness 15, Moore, Angell 2, Cornatzer, Merlau, Michael 7.

SOUTHROWAN (30) — Morgan 11, Andrews 2, Gaddy, Miller 3, Roberts, Willett 2, Yost 3, Sheets 4, Efird 3, Khan 2.

Davie County 10 18 12 15 — 55