GRANITEQUARRY— Just four games ago, the East Rowan girls basketball team floundered in back-to-back losses.
The Mustang team that won its next four games, including Tuesday night’s 62-46 convincing showing against Statesville, looks completely different.
“Getting in there, playing together, doing more team things, getting to like each other,”senior Christal MacLamroc said to explain the turnaround. “We’re working well together. It’s like there’s a family out there.”
With three straight wins over 3ANorth Piedmont Conference contenders A.L. Brown, West Rowan and Statesville, the Mustangs now stand alone in second place, one win behind North Iredell.
East (14-2 overall, 4-1 NPC) stifled the Greyhounds (13-4, 3-3) with great defense that limited Statesville to 30 percent shooting from the field and 18 turnovers. The Hounds made just one of their first 18 attempts from long range and finished 4-for-26 (15 percent) for the game.
“I was a little bit worried about our girls tonight in the locker room, they didn’t seem fired up,”East girls head coach Randy Bingham said. “But by golly, they came out and played some great defense. I thought that was the best defensive game I’ve ever seen in this gym out of a girls team.”
The offense wasn’t bad, either. Sophomore Maggie Rich, after a six-point first half, finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead all scorers. Senior center Michelle Haynes enjoyed a big night with 10 points, Christal MacLamroc finished with nine points and Haley Shaw, playing with a big brace protecting her sore knee, tallied eight points.
The Mustangs turned a 22-17 halftime edge into a comfortable lead with a strong third quarter. MacLamroc keyed an 8-0 run with a steal that led to a pair of Rich free throws. Rich reciprocated with a steal she threw ahead to MacLamroc for a layup.
“That was a turning point,”MacLamroc said of the give-and-go game with Rich. “We try every game. We do it in practice all the time, too.”
Rich scored East’s next six points, then MacLamroc hit a jumper and nabbed a steal at the top of the 3-point line with the clock running down. She raced the other way for a layup before the buzzer and the Mustangs were up 40-25.
When Rich outscored the Hounds 6-2 to open the fourth quarter, a frustrated Addie Hightower emptied her bench and played reserves the rest of the way.
Ashley Kirkland hit three long-range jumpers in the final four minutes, meaning the rest of Statesville’s squad went 1-for-26 from the 3-point arc.
“We’ve just got to hit shots. The shots were open —we could’ve stood out there and tied our shoes and shoot 3s,”Hightower said. “We’ve got to have the outside game.”
East didn’t mind giving up the outside shot as long as inside force Laquavia Roseboro didn’t have a big night. The Mustangs added a wrinkle to their 2-3 zone defense, bringing centers Haynes, JordanHuffman and Kelly Kluttz to the high post for a 2-1-2 look.
The strategy worked:Roseboro scored single buckets in the first, second and fourth quarters and finished with 14.
“We were focusing on the tall girl a whole lot, making sure she didn’t do her spin move and go around,”Rich said. “We knew they could hit 3-pointers every now and then, but we were more focused on the big girl.”
n
NOTES: East shot 14-for-24 in the second half (58 percent). … The Mustangs outrebounded Statesville 33-22. … East welcomes 1-4 Northwest Cabarrus on Friday.
STATESVILLE (46) — Schofield 2, Fletcher 2, Young 2, Kirkland 9, Roseboro 14, Reneger 3, Clark 4, Rucker 6, Keys 2, Kutteh 2, Wells, Dixon.
EASTROWAN (62) — Wood 2, Ingold 3, Shaw 8, MacLamroc 9, Rich 23, Mundy 1, Haynes 10, Huffman 6, Ludwig, Kluttz, Brown, Hall.
Statesville 13 4 8 21 — 46
East Rowan 12 10 18 22 — 62
n
Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4256 or shanf@salisburypost.com
.
Today's News
