GRANITEQUARRY — Figuring out girls basketball is even harder than learning to play the guitar overnight.

The East Rowan girls came into Wednesday’s game with North Rowan on a nice roll. They had won six of eight and had played very well even in the two losses.

North, on the other hand, seemed headed south. The Cavs had lost four of six after a great start and had been rammed by a total of 66 points in their last two league outings.

So what happens? Naturally, North clocks East 48-34 on its home floor. Go figure.

Even the coaches were stunned. North’s Gary Atwell, pleasantly so.

“I’m ecstatic, because that’s the best we’ve played since before Christmas,” he said.

As for East’s Randy Bingham, who watched his team put up a season-low point total, well, you can just imagine.

“I’m not sure where we were tonight,” he sighed. “I do know we weren’t here. I can’t begin to explain it.”

How “not here” were the Mustangs? They were blanked in the first quarter. They shot 0-for-8 from the field, didn’t visit the foul line and made 10 turnovers. It was every bit as ugly as it sounds. It was North’s night from the time Moriah Jones drilled a 3-pointer on the Cavs’ first possession. North carved up East’s zone with its new 1-4 offense, something Atwell installed shortly after his girls were taken to the laundry 74-35 by High Point Central.

“Everyone’s packing it back on us and we needed something that would work better against a zone,” Atwell explained. “We did a good job with the new offense, considering we practiced it three times.”

After that record-tying first quarter, North (11-4) was on top 12-0. The lead reached 13-0 before Emily Rich made a layup a minute into the second to belatedly put the Mustangs (10-7) on the board.

“Atwell kept telling us after the first quarter that it wasn’t like we weren’t gonna win by 30,” said Amber Hill, who ran the show and led the Cavs with 15 points. “He said it would probably end up 45-40.”

East did make a mini-run, shaking off Tuesday’s long trip to Piedmont or whatever it was that caused that awful first eight minutes. The Mustangs drew as close as 24-18 on a 3-pointer by Haley Shaw with 4:25 left in the third. But that just seemed to stir up the Cavs. North outscored East 12-4 the rest of the quarter and wasn’t threatened again.

“We’ve been on a downfall. We’ve been lacking and ain’t had it together,” said a smiling Hill. “But this game is gonna bring us back up.”

Atwell agreed. “We needed this bad,” he said. “I don’t like playing a non-league game in the middle of our conference season, but we sure needed something positive to happen for us after our last two games.”

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NOTES:Bingham said the biggest plus of the nightmare night was the play of Shaw, who scored 12 points, five more than in any game this season. “Haley shot well and made some good plays,” said Bingham. ... Maggie Rich added 10 points for East, but Emily Rich’s nine-game streak of double figures was broken. ... North completed a three-game sweep of East. It had earlier beaten the Mustangs 58-39 in Spencer and 45-43 in the Christmas tourney. “We really wanted to beat North, because we had beaten all the other county teams,” said Bingham. “The good thing is it only hurts as far as bragging rights.” ... East plays West Friday, while North takes on Salisbury. ... Joyce Hipps scored 12 and Courtney Hill 11 for North, mostly with slick passes to one another for layups. ... Atwell loved the way the smaller Cavs dominated the backboards.

EASTROWAN (34) — Shaw 12, M. Rich 10, E. Rich 8, Williams 4, Haynes, Morgan, Ingold, Huffman, Alexander, Ivey, Maclamroc.

NORTH ROWAN (48)— A.Hill 15, Hipps 12, C. Hill 11, Jones 5, Craige 2, Hendrick 2, Bowie 1.

East Rowan 0 11 11 12 — 34

North Rowan 12 12 12 12 — 48