BY MIKE LONDON
SALISBURY POST

LANDIS — It wasn’t pretty, but it was pretty darn exciting, just the same.

South Rowan’s girls basketball team edged Salisbury on Wednesday night 39-37 on Paris Rucker’s stickback of a missed free throw with seven seconds left.

It was a night when there were plenty of misses available to stick back.

Both South coach James Greene and Salisbury coach Jennifer Shoaf started their sixth hoops seasons last night, and neither could quite believe what they were seeing.

Shoaf buried her head in her hands on a number of occasions, mostly after the Hornets’ 14 missed free throws.

“We demand that the girls make free throws in practice,” said Shoaf. “They make 75 percent or they pay.”

But the Hornets didn’t make 50 percent this time. If they had, a 2A team that lost 90 percent of its scoring from last season, could have swung a road upset of a 4A team with lots of quality veterans.

Meanwhile, Greene watched his tall girls destroy tiny Salisbury on the boards — as everyone expected — but time after time, Raider rebounders failed to turn opportunities into points.

“We missed a million shots inside,” said Greene.

“We rushed shots,” said Alexius Blackwood, one of a wave of 6-footers the Hornets had to contend with. “Salisbury played hard, but we should have won by 30.”

Blackwood had a night that typified the Raiders’ frustration. She was all over the glass for a game-high 18 boards, but settled for four point-blank buckets and couldn’t convert any free-throw tries.

Either team could have blown the game wide open, but both played far better defense than offense.

Salisbury held a 9-8 lead at the end of the first quarter, but South was on top 21-17 at the half.

Things picked up for the Hornets when freshman Shayla Fields scored eight of her game-high 17 points in a third-quarter flurry after South went to a man-to-man defense.

“Shayla’s special,” said Shoaf. “She played her butt off. She’s going to bring a lot of people out to see us play.”

Fields, a 5-9 guard, did it all. She dished, she made steals and even blocked back-to-back Raider shots on one possession. Fields’ athleticism helped compensate for a size differential that was scary. South’s point guard Katie Willett is taller than 5-9 Anita Edwards, the Hornets’ tallest player.

“That No. 23 (Fields) was good,” said Blackwood. “She was focused. You could see that she wanted this game.”

Fields, a Fields of dreams, if ever there was one, kept the Hornets in the fight. Foul trouble for South trees, Rucker and Sade Jordan, helped, too.

When Hornet guard Ashton Hanrahan snuck inside for a lefty follow with 3:16 left, Salisbury led 35-33.

But a Willett free throw and a follow by Jordan made it 36-35 Raiders at the 2:47 mark.

With 2:27 left, Salisbury guard Jamie Seay hit a tough shot to give her team back the lead. But Willett retaliated by sinking the front end of a one-and-one for a 37-37 tie with 47 seconds left.

Salisbury then worked the ball around until Fields had an open look from the left baseline. But her shot was well short and Jordan grabbed the rebound.

“I think I did good,” said Fields. “I just froze up on that last shot.”

Likely Fields was exhausted by then, as she played all 32 minutes.

South got a fastbreak off Fields’ miss and Blackwood was fouled with 8.4 seconds on the clock. She missed both free throws, but Rucker skied over a Hornet for the rebound and dropped in the winner.

“Paris, she was a life-saver,” said a relieved Blackwood.

“Free throws and our failure to box out beat us” said Shoaf. “South’s so big. We knew that would be a problem.”

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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com .