Jennifer Shoaf didn’t want to envision a playoff scenario that would force the Salisbury girls to win a game against Ledford or Lexington.
The Yellow Jackets showed how difficult a task that can be on Friday night.
Lexington jumped out to an early double-digit lead against the Hornets and cruised to a 64-42 win despite a career-high 30 points from Shayla Fields.
Lexington and Salisbury entered the game tied for second place in the CCC. The Yellow Jackets (10-6, 4-2) maintained their position, while the Hornets(5-10, 3-3) fell into a tie for fourth place.
“We’re treading on thin ice,” Shoaf said. “Realistically going in, I felt like we didn’t have to beat Lexington or Ledford either time. ... Now we’ve put a lot of pressure on ourselves because we did lose two early. I was hoping we could upset one of these and maybe get ourself back in the race.”
Lexington established a
15-5 lead by outworking Salisbury on the boards.
The Yellow Jackets had seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone to produce plenty of second-chance points for post players Michelle Johnson and Jasmine Hargrave.
The two Jackets continued their strong play in the second quarter, combining for 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting.
Hargrave hit all five of her first-half shots to score 10 points, while Johnson connected on each of her four attempts to score nine and help Lexington go to the break with a 34-18 lead. Hargrave finished with 16 points.
“Our communication on defense wasn’t very good in our zone,” Shoaf said.“I can’t believe we gave up 34 points in a zone, that’s just unreal.”
Said Fields, “We weren’t boxing out. I don’t know how many it takes to box out, but we had three down there.”
Fields did what she could to keep the Hornets within shouting distance.
The freshman guard shot 3-for-12 in the first half, but she hit six of her first eight attempts in the second half and had 15 points in the third quarter.
During Thursday’s practice, Shoaf told Fields, who got gun shy against West Stokes, that it didn’t matter if she shot 50 times against Lexington on Friday.
Fields finished the game 10-for-25 from the field and had nine rebounds and five steals.
“She told me I need to shoot more, and I don’t need to pass the ball when I don’t have to,”Fields said.
Ashton Hanrahan pitched in with six points for the Hornets. Point guard Catrina Dalton led Lexington with 17 points.
Yellow Jacket coach Chris Kennedy spent most of the game having Gary-Williams-like dialogue with his bench, although Kennedy was in a much better mood.
“We were flat on Tuesday night, and I thought it was important to show spirit from the coach all the way down to the trainer,” Kennedy said.
Lexington had reason to smile. Fields said the Hornets can’t afford to carry such a care-free attitude now that a playoff berth is in doubt.
Said Fields, “We have to win seven of our next eight games, and to win all those games we have to focus more.”
LEXINGTON (64) — Horton 17, Hargrave 16, Johnson 9, Gilley 6, Small 4, Dalton 3, Terny 3, Saei 2, Hamilton 2, McNaeir 2, Burrell.
SALISBURY (42) — Fields 30, Hanrahan 6, Edwards 2,
Wingerson 2, Connor 2, Hawthorne, Bauk, Teamer, Charleston, Seay.
Lexington 15 19 18 12 — 64
Salisbury 7 11 18 6 — 42
Today's News
