KANNAPOLIS— They could have survived the turnovers. Or the off shooting night. Or taking 19 fewer free throws.
But “or” became “and” Tuesday night, throwing too much at the East Rowan girls basketball team to overcome.
The Mustangs fell 59-56 in a key 3ASouth Piedmont Conference clash to Northwest Cabarrus. The win pushed the Trojans’ record to 16-3 overall and 10-3 in the league, good enough for second place, while East dropped to fourth place at 12-8, 8-5.
So many things went wrong for the Mustangs that it’s hard to know where to begin. They turned the ball over 28 times, missed clutch shots and attempted just 13 free throws compared to Northwest’s 32 trips to the line.
Despite the adversity, self-inflicted and otherwise, East still found itself leading in the game’s final minute. Then came the final staggering blows.
Trojan Chrissy Killian launched a 3-pointer with 35 seconds to play that missed everything, and as airballs so often do, it ended up in the hands of an unsuspecting teammate right under the basket. Danielle Archey’s putback gave Northwest a 56-55 lead.
Seconds later, East’s Stephanie Morgan got fouled on a shot attempt and watched the ball glance around the rim and out, spoiling a potential three-point play. She hit a free throw to tie it, then Rose Florence drained a free throw at the other end to put Northwest back up 57-56 with 18 seconds remaining.
East point guard Lora Williams drove down the lane and tried to hit Julie Alexander, but the pass skipped away. The officials whistled jump ball as players grappled for control, setting the stage for the final insult — the possession arrow pointed to the Trojans. With 3.7 seconds showing on the clock, the game was over.
“You’ve got to credit East,”Trojans head coachScott Burleson said. “They’re one of the toughest teams to play in the conference. The kids did a good job keeping their composure.”
Especially impressive was Jenny Volpicelli, Northwest’s star guard and likely SPCPlayer of the Year. She made her first shot, then missed seven straight up until the third quarter. From that point on, she decided to attack every chance she got to draw fouls. The strategy worked — she shot 12 free throws in the second half and had her team in the double bonus with more than six minutes left on the clock.
The only bright spot for East was that Volpicelli missed three straight foul shots at one point. But she drained four of her last five.
“When you’ve got the other team on the free-throw line twice as fast as you are — especially against a good free-throw shooting team … ”East head coachRandy Bingham said, letting the thought trail off. “And actually, their best player was missing some free throws. I think that was a glimmer of hope for us, but somebody else always picks up the slack.”
Archey helped a great deal, finishing with 13 points, as did freshman Rose Florence, who had a team-high 14. That duo combined for 16 of Northwest’s 25 points in the final quarter, keeping it close until the final minute’s comeback.
Both squads missed out on early chances to open up big leads. Northwest led by as many as five points in the fourth quarter and East by as much as four with two minutes to play before turnovers turned the tide. Northwest nearly matched the Mustangs, coughing the ball up 27 times.
“We matched up evenly,”Burleson said. “Their defense and our defense like to force an uptempo game, force a lot of turnovers. We were fortunate we were able to do the things at the end to win the game.”
What disappointed Bingham and the Mustangs was that the turnovers allowed Northwest to have that chance at the end.
“There’s no excuse for that,”Bingham said of the 28 miscues. “A lot of that’s impatience. They get way ahead of themselves sometimes, in too big of a hurry.
“When you’re running up and down the floor, the pass that was there a half-second ago has been completely closed off in the next half-second.”
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NOTES: Emily Rich and Williams combined for a great fourth quarter, as well, scoring 17 points. Rich, who had a game-high 21 points, scored 10 in the final period on 5-for-7 shooting. … East made nine of its 13 free throws, while Northwest went 20-for-32. … Williams, saddled with foul trouble, had eight rebounds to go with her 16 points. … East travels to A.L. Brown onFriday for another key showdown. The Wonders stand a mere game behind the Mustangs at 7-6.
EAST ROWAN (56) — E.Rich 21, Williams 16, Morgan 5, M.Rich 5, Shaw 5, Haynes 2, Alexander 2, Ingold, Huffman.
NORTHWESTCABARRUS (59)— Florence 14, Volpicelli 13, Archey 13, Killian 6, Dobard 5, Baumgardner 4, Edwards 2, S.Morrison 2, Curtis, A.Morrison.
East Rowan 10 15 8 23 — 56
NWCabarrus 13 10 11 25 — 59
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