KANNAPOLIS — For the second time this season, there didn’t appear to be much difference between a South Rowan girls basketball team that is still fighting for respect at 4-14 and a Northwest Cabarrus squad that is enjoying a banner 13-2 season.
Northwest beat the Raiders 57-47 Thursday night— a nearly identical score to the Trojans’ 56-47 win in Landis — but when the coaches look at the tape, they’ll probably wonder how it happened. South outshot (40-34 percent) and outrebounded (37-32) the Trojans.
Had it been a prizefight, South would have been awarded the decision. The Raiders landed more blows and played more consistently for longer stretches. But Northwest had the only thing that really mattered — one brilliant second-half flurry that negated all the good things South did the rest of the night.
Early on, South, riding a two-game winning streak, was juiced, and Northwest, obviously feeling the effects of a tough loss to rival Central Cabarrus on Tuesday, was not. After three minutes, South led 8-2.
“We were concerned about being ready to play since it wasn’t conference and since we had just played Central,” said Northwest coach Scott Burleson. “We stressed that the one thing we could not do was come out flat. So, of course, that’s exactly what we did.”
South held on to a 16-15 lead at the end of a fast-paced first quarter and was still clinging to a one-point lead — at 23-22 — after a snail-paced second.
Hoops by Brittney Gaddy (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Katie Willett (12 points) put South ahead by three points two minutes into the third. But suddenly, Burleson’s troops jacked up their defensive intensity level several notches. Then the Trojans started getting turnovers and started getting much better shots in transition than they had been getting working against South’s zone defense.
“We turned up the defense and that got our offense going. Then we finally got a lead,” said Burleson.
Quick-handed Crissy Killian made a trio of steals that led to layups and youngster Danielle Archey (10 points) and veteran Courtney Edwards (17 points) buried open perimeter shots. Compounding South’s worries was point guard Willett’s fourth foul halfway through the third. South made 10 turnovers in that quarter, several after its primary ballhandler had to sit. Northwest outscored South 23-6 in that one blinding burst of defensive energy — going from three down to 14 up. That was the difference.
The Raiders climbed back to 52-47 late and had several chances to cut the lead to two or three. But an Aisha Khan 3-pointer rimmed out at the 1:22 mark and Nicole Parker was called for a charge going to the hole at 1:06.
Then Killian, Edwards and Jenny Volpicelli (15 points, eight boards, four blocks) knocked down free throws to seal the victory.
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NOTES:South had 28 turnovers, six more than the Trojans. ... Northwest managed not to commit a foul for the first 11 minutes of the second half, despite that aggressive defense. ... Volpicelli led the defensive job on Gaddy, who shot 6-for-9, but had a hard time getting the ball. Gaddy had 28 in the teams’ first meeting. ... Northwest played without regular Wendy Damewood. ... Burleson hasn’t conceded the SPC title to Central. “There’s a lot of season left,” he said.
SOUTHROWAN (47) — Gaddy 15, Willett 12, Khan 6, Blackwood 6, Parker 3, Raper 2, Yost 2, Efird 1.
NWCABARRUS (57)— Edwards 17, Volpicelli 15, Archey 10, Killian 7, Florence 6, A. Morrison 2, Curtis, Dobard, S. Morrison, Baumgardner.
South Rowan 16 7 10 14 — 47
NWCabarrus 15 7 22 13 — 57
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