Whistle blows often in Lexington victory over North girls

LEXINGTON— One hundred is an admirable goal to shoot for in the game of basketball.

Making 100 percent of your shots, for example. Putting 100 points on the scoreboard.

Hey, even giving 100 percent effort is worthy of praise.

Shooting 100 free throws in a single game, however, should never —ever —be something to strive for.

The North Rowan and Lexington girls basketball teams came close to the century mark Friday night. Every meaningless whistle that sounded in the closing minutes brought the teams closer to the magic number.

They settled for 98 free throws in the 32-minute game. Lexington made 22 of 53 attempts (42 percent). North hit 22 of 45 (49 percent). The Yellow Jackets won the game 61-46.

“This is the first time ever — playing, coaching — I’ve ever seen the whistle blow so many times,”North head coach Mike White said. “And in one stretch all the the whistles were going against us, and the girls were seeing that.”

The Cavs shot more than half their free throws in the fourth quarter —with their own fans begging for the whistles to stop. Lexington’s 15-2 first quarter pretty much dictated how this one was going to come out. North (1-16 overall, 1-7 Central Carolina Conference) missed all 12 of its shots in the first eight minutes and scored only on Moriah Jones’ free throws at the 2:50 mark.

“The first quarter killed us again,” White said. “We gave great effort. There were just certain things we should’ve scored on and we didn’t.”

North shot 50 percent in the second quarter, pulling within 18-11 on Courtney Hunter’s putback with 5:12 left before half. But the Cavs couldn’t stop the more athletic Jackets (12-6, 6-2), who owned a 52-39 rebounding edge.

Jasmine Hargrave (10 points, 14 rebounds) and Michelle Johnson (nine points, 10 boards) even made the most of Lexington’s misses from the free-throw line, sneaking in for second shots and additional freebies.

“They killed us on second shots from the free-throw line, second shots period,”White said. “It’s tough when you’ve got to overcome all that.”

Play essentially disintegrated in the second half. Each team made just two field goals in the third quarter as the fouls started mounting. North trailed 42-24 heading into the final quarter, when Ashley Hendrick, Crystal Craige, Keiko Purnell and Jones all fouled out.

An angry White also watched guards Kyuanna Foxx and Marquita Lipscomb go crashing to the floor and into the walls on several occasions —some whistled as fouls, some not.

“The referees, one of ’em couldn’t see anything and he’s telling me to stop whining,”White said. “I’m trying to protect my girls out there. They’re hitting the floor, getting smacked around …

“I always talk to them about keeping their heads in the game even when there’s bad officiating, but I about lost it a couple times. I had to take a step back.”

NORTH ROWAN (46) — Foxx 3, Lipscomb 3, Hunter 5, Craige 9, Jones 9, Purnell 2, Suber 3, Hendricks 6, Harriston 1, Cuthbertson 5.

LEXINGTON (61) — McNear 14, Horton 16, Gilley 10, Johnson 9, Terry 1, Hargrove 10, Woods 1, Hamilton, Saei, Small, Durrell.

North Rowan 2 14 8 22 — 46

Lexington 15 16 11 19 — 61

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Contact Steve Hanf at 704-797-4256 or shanf@salisburypost.com .