UNIONVILLE — East Rowan’s girls were shooting poorly in the first half, but Richly when it counted the most.
Led by sisters Emily and Maggie Rich, coach Randy Bingham’s Mustangs broke open a close game in the third quarter and went on to defeat Piedmont 64-56.
East, after shooting 25 percent from the floor in the first two quarters, was 14-for-25 (56 percent) in the second half. Senior Emily Rich was 6-for-8, and freshman Maggie Rich was 4-for-7, a combined 10-for-15.
“They got on a little hot streak. Those girls fill it up when they get it going,” said Bingham.
Emily Rich, after missing her first five shots, wound up 10-for-19 and scored a career-high 24 points. Maggie Rich, who hit her first three shots in East’s big third quarter, was 5-for-12 and got 11 points.
Lora Williams, who scrapped for seven rebounds and several steals, added 11 points, six of them at the foul line in the final period.
“I thought Lora made some good plays down the stretch. She took it to the basket a couple of times and made some big free throws for us tonight,” said Bingham.
“I think everybody picked up the tempo in the third quarter. We got on a little roll like we’ve been playing. We’ve been playing pretty well lately. We just need to play four quarters like that,” said Bingham.
The victory, East’s sixth in eight outings since Christmas, improved the Mustangs to 10-6 overall and 6-4 (fourth place) in the 3A South Piedmont Conference. Sixth-place Piedmont dropped to 5-10 and 4-5.
East, ahead only 25-24 at the half, outscored the Panthers 19-9 in the third quarter to take charge, then led by 19 in the fourth quarter. Piedmont cut into the lead against East reserves, so Bingham sent his starters back in to wrap it up in the final minute.
“I started to get a little worried there,” said Bingham about watching the lead cut to 61-53 with about a minute to play. “I want them (reserves) to get all the playing time they can. When they get in there, they’re so excited. We just went a little haywire.”
Bingham said, partly because of Piedmont’s playing surface, he expected problems last night.
“You almost know this is going to happen every year we come down here. A lot of it, I think, is the floor. The floor is about twice as hard as any other floor you play on. You get a faster bounce. The ball comes up harder and it gets away from you quicker. Sometimes it takes you a half or a game to get used to that. It’s a nice floor, it’s just different. It’s almost like playing on a tile floor.”
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NOTES: East hosts North Rowan at 6 p.m. today in a non-league game. ... East was 23-for-61 (37.7 percent) on field goals for the night and 17-for-26 at the foul line. Piedmont went 22-for-55 (40 percent) from the floor and 11-for-23 at the foul line. ... Williams and Maggie Rich, with seven rebounds apiece, led East to a 38-30 edge on the boards. ... Morgan Hinkle scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half to lead the Panthers. Jennifer Smith and Kelly Ellis added 16 and 12 points, respectively. ... Hinkle was the game’s leading rebounder with 12. ... Piedmont had 22 turnovers to East’s 16.
EAST ROWAN (64) — E. Rich 24, Haynes 1, Morgan 6, Williams 13, Shaw 4, M. Rich 11, Huffman 1, Ingold, Alexander 4, Ivey, Cress, Mundy, Brown, MacLamroc.
PIEDMONT (56)— Gillis 6, Sexton 4, Hinkle 18, Ellis 12, Smith 16, Greene,C. Simpson, Price, Thompson, Helms.
East Rowan 13 12 19 20 — 64
Piedmont 16 8 9 23 — 56
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