South Rowan’s girls basketball team might have won without Jennifer Morgan, but the
Raiders obviously needed the senior at Salisbury last night.The 5-foot-10 forward sat out the first
half because of illness, then played a big role in her team’s 47-46 non-conference
victory over a winless Salisbury team (0-6) that is playing without its leading scorer and
rebounder, the injured Sherree Gillespie.
“She’s a senior. We
needed her,” said coach James Greene of South, which improved to 2-4. “She was a
little bit under the weather. We were trying to get through the game and not use her
tonight.”
South, without Morgan’s
double-figure scoring, held a slim 15-13 lead at halftime.
“She saw that we needed her.
She made up her mind to play at halftime. She told me and begged us that she wanted to
play,” said Greene.
Morgan entered the game early in
the third quarter and gave her team the lead for keeps with two free throws at the 6:05
mark. Her five points, two rebounds, two steals and an assist in the quarter helped South
take a 33-23 lead.
When the young Raiders took a
45-32 lead early in the fourth quarter, it appeared to be over, but Salisbury had other
ideas. Point guard Keke Chunn led a rally that cut the deficit to 45-43 with 19 seconds to
play.
Morgan and Morgan Andrews each
made one free throw over the next 11 seconds for a four-point lead that wrapped it up,
then Amanda Atkinson’s 3-pointer in the final seconds cut the margin back to one.
“I didn’t really worry
about it,” said Greene of the final minutes, “because we had built up a little
lead, and I figured that they were going to over-exert themselves trying to come back. But
when we’ve got people on the ropes, you want to go ahead and take care of them.”
Chunn, a 5-7 junior, scored eight
of her game-high and career-high 22 points in the fourth quarter to make it exciting at
the end for Salisbury assistant coach Cathy Smith. She coached the Hornets with some help
from boys coach Andrew Mathews in the absence of head coach Jennifer Shoaf, who missed the
game because of the death of her grandfather.
“I was very pleased,”
said Smith. “The third quarter, when they were pressing us fullcourt, we got down.
... We just weren’t able to make the adjustments in screening to get it across.”
Twelve of Salisbury’s 32
turnovers came in that quarter, when South outscored the Hornets 18-10.
“They (Salisbury’s
players) made an awesome comeback in the fourth quarter. ... I was very pleased in their
performance, not getting discouraged and frustrated ... They did really well staying in
the game mentally and focused, and Keke at point guard did a wonderful job,” said
Smith, a first-year coach. Shoaf will be back for tonight’s game at Concord.
Chunn added nine rebounds to her
22-point night, and teammate Jenny Reilly had nine points and nine boards.
Post player Brittney Gaddy had a
solid game for South, leading the Raiders with 14 points and adding five rebounds.Morgan
finished with eight points in less than a half.
n
NOTES: South went 16-for-43 (37.2
percent) on field goals, while Salisbury was 16-for-57 (28.1 percent). ... South had a
slight edge at the foul line, sinking 15 of 32, while Salisbury was 13-for-21. ... Chunn
and Reilly paced Salisbury to a 39-27 advantage on the boards. ... South hosts North on
Friday.
SOUTH ROWAN (47) — Gaddy 14,
Andrews 3, Sheets 4, Willett 3, Blewitt 6, Roberts 1, Miller 4, Easley, Parker, Yost 3,
Khan 1, Efird, Morgan 8.
SALISBURY (46) — Edwards 2,
Charleston 2, Reilly 9, Robinson, Chunn 22, Clinding 5, Miller, Atkinson 3, Wingerson,
Taylor 3.
South Rowan 6 9 18 14 — 47
Salisbury 7 6 10 23 — 46 |
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