By David Shaw
sports@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY —This is what happens when you pour gas on a fire.

Still snarling from its second loss in eight days, the Salisbury girls basketball team erupted for a 56-10 non-league victory over North Rowan on Saturday.

“Coming into this game, we were just trying to get better and build our team chemistry back up — offensively and defensively,” winning coach Lakai Brice said at Goodman Gym, where Salisbury (11-2) got back on track following Friday night’s overtime loss to South Rowan. “We had to get better and play with more intensity.”

They did. North was cooked after less than eight minutes in Salisbury’s oven. The Cavs (4-9) managed only two field goals in each half, failed to score in the third quarter and finished with a season-low 10 points.

“They’re a good team, but not 50 points better than us,” North coach Ron Bost said after his squad lost its fourth straight game. “We turned the ball over, but they weren’t forced turnovers. We gave them the ball.”

Junior Bryanna Troutman led Salisbury with 19 points and teammate Anayia Fulson contributed 16. Each grabbed six rebounds and Troutman added six blocked shots, five steals and four assists. Her driving layup late in the third period gave Salisbury a 46-6 lead and triggered a running clock.

“We used a full-court press right from the start,” Brice said, after Salisbury finished with 15 steals. “But our main focus was to really rebound the ball. That’s something we needed to work on. We did a good job of not giving them second chances, keeping their possessions to one-and-done.”

The lone highlight for North came in the final quarter, when sophomore reserve Nia Perry hit a layup early and a left-side set shot with 2:52 to play.

“You have to shoot the ball to score,” Bost said. “You make it easy for the other team when you don’t shoot enough.”

SALISBURY (56) — Troutman 19, Fulson 16, Capito 9, Robinson 8, Caldwell 4, Glenn, Oats, May, McEntyre, Daniels.

NORTH ROWAN (10) —Perry 4, Taborn 2, Shoaf 2, Reid 2, Robinson, Robbins, Hill, Cain, Sherrill, McDaniel, Brown, Sifford, Hillie.

Salisbury            17   20   12    7 — 56

North Rowan     4     2    0     4 — 10