Kannapolis, small but fast, forced 30 South turnovers, got off 25 more shots from the field and made seven more 3s than the Raiders, but still came up short.

South, awesome and aggressive inside with 6-foot-1 sophomore Gaddy and 5-10 senior Jennifer Morgan, shot twice as well as the Wonders (48-24 percent)from the field and much better at the line. The Raiders also smashed Kannapolis on the backboards 52-35 on their way to their first win of the season.

“The hardest thing is just to get that first one,” said South coach James Greene, whose team improved to 1-4. “I still believe and the kids still believe that we’re going to get things done. I liked our defense, our effort and our focus. We’re coming.”

Neither team led by more than seven points in a game wasn’t decided until Kannapolis sophomore Joanna Hutchinson’s 3-point attempt with one second left rattled off the rim.

Gaddy was the difference. On a night when points were hard to come by, she pounded in 28 of them. She sank 12 of 18 field goals, went 4-for-5 from the line and yanked down 13 rebounds.

“My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball,” said Gaddy. “I’m just so happy. It was a true team effort. We busted our butts out there.”

Gaddy, a freshman reserve on last season’s 22-5 Raider powerhouse, beat her career high — the 16 she scored against Mooresville last year — by a bundle. She also beat the career night of her mom, Sharon Shue Gaddy, who pumped in 19 as a sophomore against Concord during the 1966-67 season.

“To beat my mom’s high game and to do as well as she did has always been one of my goals,” said Gaddy.

Wonder coach Doug Wilson knew his team would have a difficult time matching up with Gaddy inside — and it did. But where Gaddy really hurt the Wonders was running the court. Many of her layups came as the finisher after the Raiders broke the Wonders’ fullcourt pressure.

“That’s the best I’ve ever seen Gaddy play,” said Wilson. “Give her credit. She had the game of her life.”

Morgan Andrews, Therese Blewitt, Mandy Yost and Jennifer Morgan all picked up assists by getting the ball in Gaddy’s hot hands.

Last season, Kannapolis was embarrassed 84-30 on its visit to South, but this is a new day. The Wonders are still green, starting three sophomores and one freshman, but they are much more poised than a year ago.

Meanwhile, Greene is still searching for just the right combination to place around his two anchors — Gaddy and Morgan. Morgan also had a monster game with 20 boards (there were 52 Wonder misses to rebound!), nine points and six assists.

Greene felt the key to the game would be forcing Kannapolis to shoot outside, and he was proven right.

“Our last four ballgames, we gave up at least 25 points in the paint,” he said. “We knew tonight we had to keep them out of there.”

The paint did belong to South. The Raiders shot layups, while the Wonders launched 3s. The fourth-quarter numbers were fascinating. South turned the ball over 12 times and got off only six shots, but made five of them. Meanwhile, Kannapolis hoisted 18 shots from all angles, but got only three to go down.

The Wonders led early 9-4 as Elise Stanback and Kesha Johnson rained in three quick 3-pointers over the Raider zone.

“They surprised us early the way they shot the ball,” said Greene. “No doubt, they’re an improved team.”

By halftime, though, with Gaddy and Morgan scoring all but two of the Raiders’ points, South led 21-18.

Gaddy scored eight more points in the third quarter but the Wonders, behind ex-cheerleader Erin Connor, closed with a rush, trimming a seven-point deficit to 35-33 as the horn sounded.

In the fourth quarter, South pushed ahead by four on a five-point flurry off the bench by Mandy Yost, but an offensive rebound by Stanback tied the game at 42 and Hutchinson’s shot in the lane gave Kannapolis its last lead at 44-42 lead with 2:13 left.

Gaddy sank two huge free throws 15 seconds later to re-tie the game and Morgan beat the press for a driving layup that put South in front 46-44 at the 1:29 mark. Then Gaddy got a layup off a feed from Yost and the Raiders were up 48-44 with 1:02 left.

Andrews got a big rebound for South with 18 seconds left, but the Raiders, who were out of timeouts, called one. That gave Johnson two technical free throws. She made both to pull the Wonders within two with 16 seconds left.

Johnson missed a 3, but the Wonders maintained possession after a wild battle for the rebound. Then they worked the ball around the perimeter, until Hutchinson, who had made two earlier 3s, had to let fly from the top of the circle. She had a decent look, but the shot didn’t fall. And the Raiders had that elusive first victory.

“I thought we played well and South did too,” said Wilson. “This game has to help both of us. It was nonconference, but we got to learn a lot about how to play at the end of a close game.”

KANNAPOLIS(46) — Allen, Connor 8, Crosby 6, Hutchinson 10, Johnson 11, Little, H.Morgan, Powell, Stanback 11.

SOUTHROWAN (48)— Blewitt 2, Miller, Yost 5, Parker, Easley, Willett 2, Efird, Gaddy 28, J.Morgan 9, Andrews, Sheets 2.

Kannapolis 11 7 15 13 — 46