LANDIS — Brittney Gaddy had a triple-double of sorts in the blink of an eye in Tuesday night’s 69-34 romp by the South Rowan’s girls basketball team over West Forsyth. After 10 minutes, Gaddy, a 6-foot-1 junior, already had 10 points and 10 rebounds on her way to team highs of 20 points and 21 rebounds.
“We had three post players who didn’t dress (due to illness or injury),” sighed West Forsyth coach T.R. Richards, who has been forced to play five freshmen in a rebuilding year. “Gaddy is big and good. The only post girl we had left came to me and said, ‘Coach, I just can’t move Gaddy off the block.’ I said, ‘Well, you’ve got to try.’ ”
The Titans are still trying.
Gaddy combined with South’s other 6-footer, freshman Alexis Blackwood, to overwhelm the tiny Titans (1-18 overall, 1-4 CPC) in the paint. In the first quarter, the Raiders missed all nine of their outside shots, but Gaddy and Blackwood cleaned up the mess so efficiently that the Raiders had a 17-7 lead. And by then, it was obvious that South would improve to 5-16 overall. More importantly, the Raiders are 3-3 in the 4A Central Piedmont Conference and in great position to grab one of the league’s three state playoff berths.
“It’s not how you start out, it’s how you finish,” said South coach James Greene, “and we can finish strong. We cleaned that glass tonight and that was big, because West outrebounded us 61-27 the first time we played them.”
It was a rare night of relaxation on the bench for Greene and assistant Arthur Heggins, whose previous four wins had been by 10 or fewer points. South had not won a game by so great a margin since the Raiders’ 1998-99 powerhouse crushed the Titans 91-52.
“It’s been a tough year and it just got tougher,” said Richards. “We’ve had trouble handling pressure defense all year, but I never would have believed that someone could sit back in a (2-3) zone like South did and beat us so badly. This was our poorest shooting night. We were 4-for-35 in the first half and when you shoot like that, who are you going to beat?”
Certainly not South, which is playing pretty well these days.
“I read my team a list of five things we had to do,” said Greene. “We did them all. We played a pretty well-rounded game.”
Gaddy and Blackwood got the Raiders started and by halftime, when South led 36-11, everyone else had joined the fun.
Outside shots eventually started falling and South made seven 3-pointers. Aisha Khan hit three and Sheena Culbertson, who had scored only three points all season, made two. Mandy Yost and Katie Willett had the other long balls.
Nicole Parker and Lauren Raper piled up assists, while Angela Efird and Willett (six steals) sparked the South defense.
“I’ve watched these girls grow all season,” said Greene. “When you grow, it’s a good season.”
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NOTES: Reserve Delatra Neely scored her second bucket of the season for the South varsity. ... Laura Swaim led the Titans with 14 and was the only West player to score until Kathryn Kiger made a 3-pointer at the 6:21 mark in the second quarter. ... West’s only win was over Davie. “That was partly them, partly us playing well,” said Richards.
WESTFORSYTH (34) — Mitchell 2, Kiger 3, L. Swaim 14, Guthrie, McElfresh, Eccles 11, E. Swaim, Wooten 2, Thrower 2.
SOUTHROWAN (69) — Parker 4, Yost 5, Khan 9, Blackwood 12, Raper 1, Willett 8, Efird, Gaddy 20, Neely 2, Culbertson 8.
West Forsyth 7 4 7 16 — 34
South Rowan 17 19 15 18 — 69
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