BY ED DUPREE
SALISBURY POST

LEXINGTON — Talented Lexington was just too much for Salisbury’s girls basketball team here last night.

The 2A Central Carolina Conference’s second-place team pounded the struggling Hornets 72-39.

Lexington, coached by Samantha Gleiser, improved to 16-3 overall and 7-1 in the CCC, losing only to unbeaten league leader HighPoint Central.

“Lexington is playing well. They beat Ledford. They’ve got a lot of momentum. They’ve got a couple of seniors that are doing a good job of leading them in (Casey) Pearson and (Lin) Bunce,” said coach Jennifer Shoaf of Salisbury.

Third-place Ledford, a perennial 2A power, fell to Lexington last week.

Shoaf said HighPoint Central has an edge on Lexington in skill and depth, but added that the Yellow Jackets’ speed in their starting lineup matches up well with High Point.

A big problem for Salisbury (6-11, 1-7) last night was Lexington’s 6-foot-2 senior center, Desiree Sawyer. She had only 12 points on 6-for-9 shooting, but terrorized the smaller Hornets on defense, blocking seven shots and forcing Salisbury to alter a lot of other shots.

“The big girl’s a problem if you don’t have any height. We didn’t have any. There wasn’t a whole lot you could do about it,” said Shoaf.

With forward Jenny Reilly out with a knee injury, Salisbury’s only experienced players are guards Ke-Ke Chunn (20 points, five steals) and Ternisha Charleston(12 points, 15 rebounds and four steals).

“I can’t match up with anybody right now,” said Shoaf after the Hornets’ fifth straight loss. “Ternisha and Ke-Ke would be starters on about anybody’s team, but the rest of them probably wouldn’t be on anybody else’s team, in all honesty. We’re just trying to have them (Chunn and Charleston) have a halfway decent ending to their senior year.”

Chunn scored 20 or more points for the eight time this season last night.

She’s been out of double figures only once. Charleston had her ninth double-figure game.

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NOTES: Pearson led Lexington’s balanced scoring with 17 points. Danyell Horton added 16 points on magnificent 8-for-10 shooting, and Bunce scored 10. ... Lexington went 33-for-65 (50.8 percent) on field goals and 6-for-15 on free throws, while the Hornets were 16-for-62 (25.8 percent) from the floor and 13-for-27 on free throws. ... Lexington had a commanding 54-35 rebound advantage. ... Salisbury had 20 turnovers, one less than did the winners. ... Salisbury visits East Davidson on Tuesday.

SALISBURY (39) — Doby 2, Wingerson, Seay 5, Chunn 20, Ternisha Charleston 12, Wilson, Mendez, Terry Charleston.

LEXINGTON (72) — Jenkins 5, Horton 16, Sawyer 12, Bunce 10, Pearson 17, Johnson 4, McNeair 4, Saei, Griffin 2, Hargrave 2.

Salisbury 11 5 16 7 — 39

Lexington 20 24 15 13 — 72