GRANITEQUARRY — East Rowan girls basketball coach Randy Bingham knew his team had
been living on borrowed time. And time ran out on the previously unbeaten Mustangs, who were pounded
into submission 56-27 by relentless West Rowan in a 3A South Piedmont Conference showdown
on Tuesday night.
“We’ve shot the ball not
so good all year,” said Bingham. “But tonight, we shot the ball terrible and it
finally caught up with us.”
East (4-1, 2-1 SPC) shot 19
percent from the field. That stunning percentage came in part because of a great defensive
scheme by Falcon coach Angie Waddell.
Waddell employed effective
fullcourt pressure. Then, whenever East managed to beat the press, it had to work against
West’s triangle-and-two defense. High-scoring guards Nicole Loggins and Brooke
Misenheimer were defended man-to-man.
West’s Kari Schenk hounded
Misenheimer, while Kate Goodman chased Loggins. The other three Falcon defenders sagged
and clogged the lane.
“West played great
defense,” said Loggins, who scored the 1,000th point of her career in the first
quarter. “It was hard to get an open outside shot and they also took away the
middle.”
“We did play some wonderful
defense,” agreed Waddell. “I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Waddell’s girls had a dress
rehearsal for their terrifying triangle on Friday when they hammered Harding. Then they
practiced the defense some more on Monday, with Kristen McNeely playing the role of
Misenheimer and Sara Pieper cast as Loggins.
Waddell got better results than
she could have hoped. Goodman held Loggins to 1-for-8 shooting after a hot first quarter.
If it’s possible, Schenk was
even tougher. Misenheimer took only one shot in the first half and scored only four points
while Schenk was on the floor.
East has a host of frontcourt
players who have picked up the guards in earlier wins, but no one except Mary Clark
Roberts (2-for-3) could buy a bucket. With Lora Williams, Emily Rich, Stephanie Morgan and
Michelle Haynes all struggling (a combined 2-for-27), there was no way East could survive.
East shot 5-for-37 (13.5 percent)
over the last three quarters, while committing more turnovers than West and being
clobbered on the boards. The results were not pretty. East was held to its lowest point
total since a 58-24 spanking from West in the 1992-93 season. The 29-point loss was the
worst for the Mustangs since a 59-30 beating from Central Cabarrus closed the 1994-95
regular season.
Ironically, it was a close,
emotionally-charged game in the early going. When Loggins eluded Goodman and splashed a
3-pointer from the left wing for her milestone points late in the first quarter, East
trailed just 13-12 and the gym was rocking.
But after a brief break to present
Loggins with a game ball, it was West that came back with all the focus and intensity. The
Falcons scored the last six points of the quarter for a 19-12 lead, then roared to a 28-15
halftime lead.
The offensive spark came from
Schenk. As a team, West (4-1, 2-0) shot only 31 percent, but Schenk drilled in three
straight 3-pointers over East’s 2-3 zone when points were precious.
“You have to try to take away
Kari’s penetration,” said Bingham. “When she started making those 3s,
I’m thinking maybe it’s not our night.”
But it was Schenk’s night.
The senior got her 1,000th point at home last season and knew coming in exactly how
emotional this “Thousand game” would be for both teams. She responded with 17
points, nine rebounds and five assists.
“I just thought our whole
team was so ready to play,” said Schenk. “We were happy for Nicole when she got
her milestone, but we knew we couldn’t let East get all hyped up over it. We had to
stay mentally tough the whole game.”
West started cold in the second
half, giving the Mustangs one last chance to make a game of it. They didn’t.
“We missed four straight
layups,” said Bingham. “That pretty much broke our backs.”
West then tore off on a 15-2 run.
After that, it was not a question of whether it would avenge last year’s four losses
to East, but by how much.
West led by as many as 31 in the
fourth quarter as the remaining fans witnessed a rare sight —Schenk resting on the
bench with four minutes still to play.
“It was great to finally turn
things around against them,” said Schenk. “I’ve never heard this gym so
quiet.”
“I told the girls
there’s nothing we can do about this one now,” said Bingham. “It’s
like a golf shot. Once you’ve hit it, it’s gone. We just take our hats off to
West and look forward to the next one.”
n
NOTES: Waddell was concerned with
how much energy her team expended. West plays at North Rowan tonight, and the Cavs are the
only team that has beaten the Falcons in a 64-49 track meet. ... Goodman had nine points,
10 rebounds and five steals. West got strong games from McNeely (eight points) and
Danielle Scearce (six rebounds). Pieper was in early foul trouble and was held to six
points. ... East’s Williams, Morgan and Loggins had six rebounds each.
WESTROWAN(56) — Pieper 6,
Schenk 17, McNeely 8, Goodman 9, Scearce 5, Wansley, Sloop 2, Jones, Moore 4, Rabon 1,
Honeycutt, Shaver 4.
EASTROWAN (27)— Loggins 10,
Rich, Misenheimer 7, Morgan, Haynes, Roberts 4, Williams 4, Poole, Alexander, Goodnight 2,
Ivey, Shaw.
West Rowan 19 9 13 15 — 56
East Rowan 12 3 4 8 — 27 |
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