SHELBY — North Rowan’s girls were unbeaten during the regular season against South Piedmont Conference basketball teams, and now they’re unbeaten against the Southern Piedmont.
Coach Gary Atwell’s girls defeated Shelby 47-35 here Tuesday night in the first round of the Sectional No. 4 playoffs. Shelby was the regular-season co-champion and No. 2 seed from the 2A Southern Piedmont Conference.
Atwell’s team is 17-8 for the season with seven of those wins coming against a league with a similar name, the 3A
SouthPiedmont.
The North coach knew nothing about the 2A SPC or Shelby coming in to the game.
“We’ve never played anybody out of this conference,” said Atwell. “In all the years I’ve coached, we’ve always had to go to Bandys or Newton-Conover or Bunker Hill, up in that area, or the Rocky River.”
He did know that his team had played in the toughest 2A league in the state, the Central Carolina, and that the experience of playing teams like undefeated High Point Central and Ledford would help in the playoffs.
“We’re 17-3, if you take away High Point Central and Ledford,” Atwell pointed out, referring to three losses to Central and two to Ledford.
“I figured they were very athletic,” Atwell said of Shelby, now 13-12. “They didn’t shoot the ball as well as I anticipated.”
North consistently beat Shelby’s fullcourt press for layups in the first half, passed the ball exceptionally well and played solid defense.
“We didn’t get back as we’ve been doing all year,” said Shelby coach Cal Pass. “We knew that they were going to push it up one side and pass it to the other side when they drew our big girl (6-foot-1 Shakita Borders) up. We were supposed to be in position to intercept that. We just didn’t get back.”
Center Courtney Hill led the Cavaliers’ balanced scoring with 12 points, but guard Amber Hill had an amazing game that came up a little short of a quadruple-double. The sophomore had 11 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and eight steals.
“That’s pretty impressive,” said Atwell. “I knew she had a great game. I told Trish (assistant coach Hester) sitting over there on the bench that Amber was playing a heck of a game.”
Also scoring near double figures were forward Crystal Craige and guard Ashley Bowie with nine and eight, respectively.
“I thought the girls that I don’t usually count on to score a lot stepped up and scored a lot more than they normally do,” said Atwell. Craige matched her third-highest total of the year, while Bowie (4-for-6 on field goals) tied a career-high.
Atwell also was pleased with the performance of his senior point guard, Joyce Hipps, who also played inside when Amber Hill ran the point. Hipps had a misleading two points.
“Joyce had a bad night shooting, but she does so many good things,” said the North coach. “She rebounded well, she distributed the ball well when she was running the point and she drew a charge. When she’s not in there, we’re not quite the same team.”
With Amber Hill and Hipps (three assists) leading the way, North had 12 assists to go with its 19 field goals.
“We pushed the ball real well. Amber made some great passes, and Joyce made some great passes,” said Atwell.
Defensively, North’s tight 2-3 zone did its job.
“We denied them from getting the ball inside. The only way they basically scored was when they did get a lob pass inside or beat us down the floor. They hit three 3-pointers, but they didn’t hit the medium-range jumper at all,” said Atwell.
Now, the Cavs return to the familiar CCC, taking on High Point Central (25-0) for the fourth time this season in the sectional semifinals at 4 p.m. today at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory.
“It’s the fourth time to play a team that is probably the best in the state in any classification,” said Atwell. “The closest game has been 31 points. What can you say? We’ll just go up there and play hard.”
Central beat North by scores of 74-35 and 69-38 in the regular season and by 71-34 in the CCC Tournament semifinals. Central also beat runner-up Ledford 62-31 in the championship game.
“We are in the hardest conference around,” said Amber Hill. “I hope we will be ready for High Point Central on Thursday.”
NOTES: North went 19-for-49 (38.8 percent) on field goals and 9-for-12 at the foul line. Shelby was 14-for-48 (29.2 percent) on field goals and 4-for-12 on free throws. ... Shelby had 18 turnovers to 13 for the Cavs.
NORTH ROWAN (47) — A. Hill 11, Craige 9, C.Hill 12, Hipps 2, Jones 1, Bowie 8, Suber 2, Hendrick 2, Peterson.
SHELBY (35) — Jeffries 2, Bratton, Borders 10, Hamilton 6, Russell 4, Cannon 10, Banner, Wray, Brewton, Smith, McIntyre 3.
N. Rowan 14 14 8 11 — 47
Shelby 11 9 5 10 — 35
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