KING — Salisbury High girls basketball coach Jennifer Shoaf had gotten the scouting report on West Stokes.
“Everything that I’d heard, they don’t shoot well outside,” she said. “I heard, they can’t throw it in the ocean.”
West Stokes coach Bob Sullivan wouldn’t be offended by those remarks. He admitted himself, “We’ve not been able to shoot from the perimeter lately.”
So who’s fooling who here?
West Stokes may have won the NBA 3-point contest Wednesday night, stunning Shoaf — and possibly themselves — by nailing several critical outside jumpers in an important 43-36 win over the Hornets.
“Well, they did throw it in the ocean,” sighed Shoaf, whose team has gone from owning second place to falling in the middle of a jumbled conference.
Salisbury came in 3-1 in the league, sitting alone behind Ledford. Now, West Stokes, East Davidson and Lexington join the Hornets (5-9, 3-2) with two CCC defeats.
Nine of the Wildcats’ 19 baskets were of the jump-shot variety, which was a mystery to Shoaf. Even more of a mystery was why her star, freshman Shayla Fields, stopped shooting once the third quarter began.
Salisbury led only once at 12-10 but Fields’ hot shooting in the first half kept the Hornets within a bucket or two.
In the first period, she scored five baskets in five different ways — a baseline jumper, a rebound follow, a 15-footer, a layup and a pull-up jumper.
By halftime, she had 14 of her team’s 18 points and Salisbury trailed 22-18.
“It’s hard to believe she’s a freshman,” Sullivan said. “You can’t stop her. You hope to slow her down a little but you’re lucky if you do.”
The third quarter began and Fields stopped herself. After hoisting 15 shots in the first half, she shot only once in the third and five in the fourth.
The 0-for-1 third period baffled Shoaf, whose team was down 34-29 going into the final eight minutes.
“You score 14 points in the first half and all of a sudden, you don’t score in the third?”Shoaf marveled. “They were playing man-to-man in the third and that’s when we’re able to set screens and get her the ball. But Shayla takes herself in and out of the game. She knows she’s the one who dictates and decides.”
West didn’t play man-to-man for long. Sullivan knew better, switching to a packed in zone.
“Maybe that helped stop her,” he said.
But Ashton Hanrahan lit it up for six points in the second half. Anita Edwards hit two big baskets and Krystal Connor hit a free throw with 2:53 remaining to tie the score at 36-all.
But Rebecca Newsome scored what proved to be the winning points on a — you guessed it — outside jumper and the Wildcats (3-2, 6-9) made their free throws.
“Maybe we were tired,” said Shoaf, whose team went to West Iredell the previous night. “But that’s not a good enough excuse. I want us to play better.”
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NOTES: Fields finished with 18 and dished out five assists. ... Hanrahan had eight.
SALISBURY (36) — Fields 18, Hanrahan 8, Edwards 6, Seay 3, Connor 1, Wingerson.
WEST STOKES (43) — Loggins 11, Culler 8, Bowman 8, Fowler 8, Newsome 6, Mann 2 .
Salisbury 12 6 11 7 — 36
West Stokes 14 8 12 9 — 43
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