Goodman, a 5-10 senior forward, led West in scoring, rebounding and steals as the Falcons bounced back from Tuesday’s 64-49 loss to North Rowan and improved their record to 2-1.

Goodman was the game’s leader in scoring with 18 points — her third-highest total in two seasons at West — and in steals with seven. She led West on the boards with nine rebounds, contributed several assists and blocked two shots.

“She’s just a great defensive player and a hard worker. She plays hard. She does what we ask. If we need a picker-upper, she’ll let us ride her back. She’s the horse we go to,” said coach Angie Waddell.

Goodman, who transferred to West from Northwest Cabarrus after her sophomore year, averaged 10.7 points for the Falcons as a junior, but she had gotten off to a slow start with just 11 points in West’s first two games.

By halftime last night she had 13 points and was well on her way to topping her previous high game of 21 for West, but the Falcons had a big lead, and Waddell rested her starters a lot in the second half. Goodman wound up 6-for-13 from the floor and 6-for-9 at the foul line.

Waddell was glad her team played well after losing to North the previous night.

“It was a big difference. South is very young, but they played hard,” she said. “Some of the things we didn’t work on last night (Tuesday), we emphasized that before the game started. We did work on that and execute, so I was proud of them for that.”

Sara Pieper and Kristen McNeely joined Goodman in the double-figure scoring column with 12 and 11, respectively.

Defensively, West caused a young South team a lot of trouble with its 1-2-1-1 zone press, especially in the first half, when the Raiders committed 25 turnovers. South finished the game with 33.

Goodman, Schenk (five steals) and McNeely (three steals) caused South’s ballhandlers and passers the most problems.

Offensively, West had a brilliant passing game with the Falcons recording 19 assists out of 26 baskets. Schenk led the way with four assists, but Goodman, Pieper, Shameeka Wansley, Jenny Sloop, Ashley Shaver, Amy Honeycutt and Natalie Jones all contributed at least one pass to set up a field goal.

“We made the extra pass, hit the open man and ran our break well,” Waddell said.

As for West’s teamwork, she said, “With the caliber of people that we have, you’re going to have to play as a team to go far in the (South Piedmont) conference, because it is so tough.”

South, dropping to 0-4, was led in scoring by center Brittney Gaddy with 11 points and in rebounding by forward Jennifer Morgan with nine. Morgan left the game early in the second half with a hand injury, but returned to finish the game. Gaddy and point guard Katie Willett each had seven rebounds.

“The defense was lacking all night long,” said coach James Greene. “The effort was lacking. We just didn’t make the effort to play defense tonight.”

Greene, who prefers man-to-man pressure defense, experimented with a zone.

“It takes a lot of aggressiveness from you,” he said of the zone. “I was trying to experiment with the kids too, trying to find a good six or seven kids, but the effort wasn’t there.”

n

NOTES: West went 26-for-68 (38.2 percent) on field goals and 10-for-17 at the foul line, while South was 13-for-59 (22 percent) from the floor and 10-for-19 on free throws. West had a 44-40 rebound edge and lost the ball 25 times on turnovers. ... West opens its South Piedmont Conference schedule atHarding on Friday, while South hosts big rival Kannapolis A.L. Brown.

WESTROWAN (64) — Goodman 18, Pieper 12, Wanjsley, McNeely 11, Schenk 9, Sloop 2, Scearce 6, Shaver 2, Moore 2, Honeycutt, Jones 2, Rabon.

SOUTHROWAN (37) — Morgan 6, Andrews 2, Gaddy 11, Willett 2, Miller 1, Blewitt 3, Parker 2, Sheets 6, Khan, Yost 4, Efird, Easley, Roberts.

West Rowan 17 22 15 10 — 64