CLEMMONS — South Rowan girls coach James Greene challenged his team both at halftime and at the end of the third quarter of Thursday’s contest against West Forsyth.

The Raiders responded in the final period and regained the lead by re-establishing their inside game.

For better or worse, South stuck with that scheme in the final minute.

The Raiders fought back from a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take the lead, but the Titans came through in the clutch to take a 42-39 win in the CPC semifinals at West Forsyth.

The second-seeded Raiders (15-10) could have tied the game in the final minute with a 3-point bucket, but they looked inside for scoring on two separate occasions and came up empty each time.

“I think tonight was just a mediocre night,” Greene said. “I think we came out mediocre — I don’t think we were focused.

The third-seeded Titans led 32-26 going into the fourth quarter, but the South duo of Katie Willett and Sade Jordan brought the Raiders back.

Jordan scored South’s first nine points of the fourth quarter, and Willett registered four assists during that stretch to help pull the Raiders within 36-35 with 4:35 to play.

Willett tried to fire yet another pass to Jordan on South’s next offensive trip, but it ricocheted right to Alexius Blackwood, who tossed in a layup to give South a one-point lead.

West Forsyth (14-11) scored the next six points, though, and still led 42-39 with 1:15 remaining.

Blackwood missed a short jumper with 55 seconds left that could have brought South within one, but the Raiders still weren’t finished.

They had one final chance with eight seconds remaining, but Blackwood misfired from close range after taking an inbounds pass. Jordan rebounded the ball but also couldn’t connect on her two-point try with four seconds left.

A made 3-pointer could have tied the contest, but Greene said his team had more than its share of chances to pull out the victory.

“I think we got plenty of shots,”Greene said. “We had plenty of shots to go ahead and finish, but we just didn’t finish them up.”

Jordan paced the Raiders with 17 points and six rebounds, while Blackwood had 10 points and five boards.

Paris Rucker chipped in with five points and 11 rebounds, and Willett finished up with seven assists.

Dione Eccles led West with 15 points, and Jennifer Wright scored 10.

Eccles gave the Titans an early boost with her 3-point shooting. She hit her first two tries to give West an early 6-0 lead, and the Titans often played keepaway from the South guards, who chased the ball around the 3-point arc in the Raiders’ 2-1-2 zone defense.

“(Greene) never brings those three big girls out of the paint,” West coach T.R. Richards said.“I wanted to put some miles on those guards and make them run a little bit. We were willing to play a real low scoring game.”

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NOTES: South wore its away uniforms. Richards said he called Greene and gave him a choice, and Greene picked black. “I like those black ones, too,”Richards said.“Those things are sharp.” ... West Forsyth will take on Davie County in tonight’s final at 6 p.m.

West forsyth (42) — Eccles 15, Wright 10, Scott 7, Bumgarner 4, Guthrie 2, Wooten 2, L. Swaim 2, Mitchell.

South rowan (39) — Jordan 17, Blackwood 10, Rucker 5, Willett 4, Russell 3, Yost, Parker, Durant.

West Forsyth 8 11 13 10 — 42

South Rowan 5 11 10 13 — 39

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Contact Bret Strelowat 704-797-4258 or bstrelow@salisburypost.com .