LANDIS — East coach Randy Bingham says his team practiced only six times prior to Tuesday night’s 64-38 win over South that kicked off the 2000-01 hoops season in Rowan County. It’s scary to think what the Mustangs will look like after they’ve practiced seven times.

“I’m just tickled to death for our first game,” said Bingham. “I’ve got 14 good girls and they’ve really worked hard.”

Obviously.

East got off to a bumpy start and trailed 12-10 after a quarter, as South got three early assists from Angela Efird and seven quick points from Brittney Gaddy.

But Mustang senior Lora Williams took over in the second quarter, stealing the ball four times in four minutes and tossing in 11 of her team-high 16 points in rapid-fire fashion.

“I think we all started a little nervous, a little jittery,” said Williams. “I knew Ihad to try and pick things up and get us going. After that, we all started playing together better.”

Williams was “Magic” Williams, doing a little of everything. The forward/guard/center appeared to have at least six arms on East’s press. And when the Raiders shot and missed she ripped the ball off the glass, put the ball on the floor and went coast-to-coast to get theMustangs’ running game rolling.

“I guess I played all over the place,” laughed Williams. “It was sort of confusing.”

Confusing? Maybe. But there’s nothing wrong with being versatile. And Williams did what Bingham needed her to do.

The Mustangs were playing their first game since the Great Depression without backcourt mates, Nicole Loggins and Brooke Misenheimer (the leading scorer and leading assist person in East history), so Bingham employed a half-dozen different people to initiate the offense against South’s man-to-man. That group included the seasoned Williams and all-county senior Emily Rich, who scored 15.

Stephanie Morgan’s layup on a feed from Rich erased South’s last lead, putting East up 13-12, 41 seconds into the second quarter. Then, fueled by Williams’ defensive burst, East raced away to a 33-19 halftime lead. The Mustangs then scored the first six points of the second half — all by Williams and Rich — to expand their lead to 20.

“Lora and Emily carried us at times. They made real big shots” said Bingham.

East went on to lead by as many as 32, in what evolved into a dream game for Bingham. He has a flock of fine freshman up from last season’s championship Erwin Middle team and was able to give all of them major minutes in a low-stress environment. Maggie Rich, Emily’s taller baby sister, scored eight points and had eight rebounds. Tiffany Ingold had six second-half steals and Jordan Huffman contributed six rebounds.

The younger Rich and Huffman helped East smack South 55-32 on the boards. Improved veteran Michelle Haynes led the Mustangs’ board dominance with 11.

“We’ve got OK size,” admitted Bingham. “We scrimmaged Albemarle the other day and their coach said, ‘Oh gosh, you’re twice as big as we are.’”

East wasn’t twice as big as South, but the rebounding situation damaged the Raiders. South coach James Greene was even more concerned with his team’s 41 turnovers against East’s pell-mell fullcourt pressure.

“We didn’t have anyone to step up and look comfortable handling the ball,” said Greene. “Randy’s kids were more assertive and played with more confidence than we did. I saw good things from my team, but only in spurts.”

South got a huge night from 6-foot-1 junior Gaddy, who shot 10-for-15 from the field, scored 24 points and added nine boards and six blocked shots, despite being triple-teamed at times. However, the rest of the Raiders did not have a good shooting night — firing away at 4-for-31 from the field.

“But it’s only the first game,” said Bingham. “South has a lot of good points. James will be all right. He’ll bring them around.”

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NOTES:East was missing senior Julie Alexander, who has a broken right hand. ... South plays Friday at Salisbury, while East hosts West Iredell. ... Bingham can holler at his team today about its 29 turnovers and its free-throw woes. East was 10-for-34 at the line. South was 10-for-23.

Girls

EASTROWAN (64) — Williams 16, E.Rich 15, M.Rich 8, Shaw 7, Morgan 7, Haynes 4, Ivey 4, MacLamroc 2, Ingold 1, Mundy, Cress, L. Brown, Huffman.

SOUTHROWAN (38) — Gaddy 24, Yost 5, Willett 3, E. Brown 2, Raper 2, Efird 1, Miller 1, Ai. Khan, As. Khan, Culbertson, Neely, Rice.

East Rowan 10 23 23 8 — 64 South Rowan 12 7 7 12 — 38