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CLEMMONS — Katie Willett’s triple-double and Nicole Parker’s career high were just what South Rowan’s girls basketball team needed to get back into the win column here last night.
The Raiders dominated in a three-minute stretch of the second half and went on to down the winless Titans 56-46 in a 4A Central Piedmont Conference contest.
Coach James Greene’s South girls snapped a seven-game losing streak and improved to 3-13 overall and 1-1 in the CPC. West Forsyth dropped to 0-14 and 0-1.
Willett, a sophomore who is playing point guard again after being used at shooting guard and small forward most of the season, had a solid game with 10 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds and four steals. Parker, a sophomore who moved up the varsity after Christmas, had 19 points for her second straight double-figure outing.
“We went ahead and put Willett back at the point,” said Greene. “We told her that she was going to have to play the point the rest of the year, because she’s the most comfortable player on the team handling the ball. She played well tonight.”
Greene had been trying to use Willett’s quickness at the shooting guard and small forward positions.
“He was trying to move me down to 3 (small forward) to get a mismatch on the other teams, because I would probably be a lot quicker than other 3s that we’re playing. But I got moved back to 1 to handle the ball for the conference,” said Willett.
The sophomore downplayed her triple-double.
“I think we played better as a team. That was one of the best team games, so that would be one of my best games,” she said.
Willett and her teammates struggled at the foul line. She went 4-for-11, Parker was 7-for-17 and the Raiders were 19-for-47. Seventeen of those 28 misses came in the fourth quarter, when South surged from a two-point lead to a 14-point advantage.
“We’ve spent a lot of time practicing free throws. I guess we’re going to have to spend much more time on free throws,” said Greene. “He (coach J.R. Richard of the Titans) did a good job coaching his team and putting us on the line. I told the kids in there (locker room) I didn’t know how many we had missed, but if we had made half that we missed, we’d have been O.K.”
Making half of the misses would have given South a 24-point victory margin.
“We work on them every day in practice,” said Willett. “We’ll work on them. We’ll probably be shooting about 100 each probably tomorrow morning at 6.”
Both Greene and Willett praised the play of Parker, who was playing in only her fifth varsity game of the season.
“She scored 10 points the last game (loss to Mount Tabor). That was her best varsity game. Tonight, she’s stepping up. She’s a good athlete. It doesn’t surprise me,” said the South coach.
“I’m proud of her,” said Willett. “She moved up from jayvee and she helped us so much. We really needed those 19 points.”
South led all the way until late in the third quarter, when the Titans managed one-point leads twice, the last time at 30-29.
Starting with reserve guard Mandy Yost’s 3-pointer with five seconds left in that third quarter, the Raiders went on a 15-2 run in just three minutes to break open the contest.
“We’re tired of losing. We said we needed to step it up, so we did. We finally got a conference win, and we really needed it,” said Willett.
Parker had five points in that run and 11 in the final quarter, during which South outscored the Titans 24-16. Willett had six points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals just in the final period.
The 10 points and 10 assists by a point guard were impressive enough, but Willett also led her team on the boards with the 10 rebounds.
“(Brittany) Gaddy got in some trouble, so I had to step up and get some rebounds,” she said.
Gaddy, South’s scoring and rebounding leader for the season, picked up two quick fouls and had four by halftime. She saw limited action in the second half, finishing with nine points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.
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NOTES: South went 18-for-62 (29 percent) on field goals, while the Titans were 18-for-60 (29 percent). ... Amber Payne (14), Emilie Guthrie (11) and Kathryn Kiger (10) led West Forsyth’s scoring. ... Payne and Erica Swaim had 18 and 10 rebounds, respectively, leading the Titans to a 56-43 edge on the boards. ... Yost just missed scoring in double figures with nine points and had five steals. Angela Efird also had five steals. ... West Forsyth had 28 turnovers, while South lost the ball 21 times. ... The Raiders visit R.J. Reynolds on Tuesday.
SOUTH ROWAN (56) — Raper, Khan 4, Gaddy 9, Parker 19, Willett 10, Blackwood, Yost 9, Efird 5, Culbertson, Neely.
WEST FORSYTH (46) — Swaim 6, Wooten 3, Payne 14, Mitchell 2, Kiger 10, Henderson, Guthrie 11, Thrower, Wright, Carter, McElfresh.
South Rowan 11 14 7 24 — 56
West Forsyth 8 11 11 16 — 46
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