GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan’s girls got a player back on their bench, and in their locker room, that may be every bit as important as sophomore stars Maggie Rich and Jordan Huffman.
Just call the Mustangs’ new addition “Confidence.”
East, which looked sluggish last week, put it all together and knocked off previously unbeaten A.L. Brown 53-49 in a 3A North Piedmont Conference showdown on Tuesday night.
Rich was obviously fabulous, scoring 26 points. Huffman (12 points, eight rebounds, four blocks) was great and “made the difference,” according to Wonder coach Doug Wilson.
But renewed Mustang confidence may have been most important of all.
“Coach (Randy) Bingham said we’d hit our lowest point of the season and we were gonna go back up,” said Rich. “My confidence has been down and the team’s has been, too. Now we’ve got it back.”
“We played like we played before Christmas,” smiled Bingham, whose team hadn’t topped 44 points in its previous four games. “Believe me, it couldn’t have come at a better time.”
East’s win was no fluke. The Mustangs shot better, won the board battle (38-30) and blanked the Wonders for nearly seven minutes in the first half with their stingy 1-2-2 zone. East would have romped had Wonder forward Michelle Crosby not had a career game. Crosby shot 9-for-12, scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
“Michelle’s their glue and she’s a pure shooter,” said Bingham. “She had a phenomenal night. She bailed them out.”
East took charge when the Wonders (12-2, 2-1) went cold and surged ahead by a dozen points with 4:33 remaining on Christal MacLamroc’s steal and three-point play. But that alarming deficit shook the Wonders out of their lethargy. They finally picked up their defensive pressure and fought back.
Brown got as close as 50-49 with 46 seconds to go on Elise Stanback’s flying layup. But Rich sank two pressure-packed foul shots with 27 seconds left. Then East’s D forced a difficult shot by Stanback with six seconds left. Rich rebounded and MacLamroc sealed the Wonders’ fate with a free throw.
“It’s always a tough game over here, a big rivalry,” sighed Crosby. “We just didn’t hustle enough until it was too late.”
His team’s first loss was tough to swallow, but Wilson was philosophical.
“We knew we couldn’t go undefeated forever,” he said. “Tonight, we didn’t shoot well and didn’t play well and we were still just one possession away on the road. We’ll be OK. We’ll move on.”
The Wonders have no choice. Statesville visits K-Town tonight.
A.L. BROWN (49) — Crosby 22, Powell 8, Hutchinson 7, Johnson 6, Stanback 4, Thomas 2, Rice.
EAST ROWAN (53) — Rich 26, Huffman 12, MacLamroc 8, Haynes 5, Ingold 2, Kluttz, Shaw.
A.L. Brown 14 8 11 16 — 49
East Rowan 15 11 10 17 — 53
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