East, improving to 3-1 in the league and 6-1 overall, beat the Rams much worse than the final score would indicate. It was a 34-point runaway at 59-25 in the third quarter.

Guard Nicole Loggins made four 3-pointers and led the Mustangs’ scoring with 19 points. Forward Emily Rich had a superb outside shooting game and finished with a career-high 15. Point guard Brooke Misenheimer and center Stephanie Morgan added 14 and 11, respectively.

“I thought the first half was about our best half of the year,” said Bingham, whose team led 43-22 at intermission. “It looked like we were ready to play. We did a good job. I’m real proud of our girls.’’

It was a game in which East could have easily scored 100 points against winless Harding (0-4, 0-6), but Bingham’s starters played only about half the game. Reserves played most of the second half.

“We played a lot of people in the second half. As a result, I think the score got back in the normal range. That’s fine,” said Bingham. “That’s what we want to do. We want to play some people.”

Bingham used a senior-dominated starting lineup for the second straight game, going with a three-guard lineup of Loggins, Misenheimer and Tiffany Poole along with post players Mary Clark Roberts and Lora Williams. All are seniors except Williams.

Double-figure scorers Rich and Morgan, who have started most of the games, came off the bench.

“I told our girls at the beginning of the game it’s probably going to be different every night,” the East coach said of his lineup. “We don’t have enough difference in our players to really, I don’t think, have a full-fledged starting lineup. Naturally, we’re going to probably start Brooke and Nicole every game. They’re all going to start at one time or another.”

It was a reasonably close game at 23-14 after one quarter until the smooth-shooting Rich got hot. She scored 13 points in the second quarter, when she went 6-for-10, mostly from the perimeter. She added several rebounds and a couple of steals.

“That’s the best I’ve seen Emily Rich shoot the ball in my life,” said Bingham of the 5-8 junior. “She was on fire. It couldn’t happen to a nicer kid. She shoots like that a lot in practice. She gets it going, and she knocks the lights out. It seems like this year she’s having a tough time getting it going. That was a pleasant surprise. She’s capable of scoring like that.”

Likewise, Harding’s Amber Springs had a hot hand in the second half, scoring 25 of her game-high 27 points. She got 15 in the final quarter, when she made three 3-pointers.

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NOTES: Led by Morgan’s 4-for-4, Rich’s 6-for-12 and Misenheimer’s 5-for-7 with three 3s, East was 27-for-60 on field goals (45 percent), as compared to 19-for-57 (33.3 percent) for the Rams. ... Harding had the edge at the foul line, going 17-for-25 to East’s 9-for-15. ... There were 63 turnovers, including 33 by Harding. East had only 11 turnovers in the first half before Bingham went to his bench. ... Point guard I.J. Mbanuzue of the Rams had 12 points, eight steals and six rebounds. ... Morgan led East with six steals. ... Misenheimer paced East in assists with seven. ... The Mustangs travel to South Stanly for a non-conference contest on Monday night.

HARDING (59) — Massey 1, Wandelt 3, Murray 7, Springs 27, Mbanuzue 12, Buckley 9, Johnson, Hooper, Alexander.

EAST ROWAN (71) — Williams 2, Loggins 19, Roberts, Misenheimer 14, Poole 5, Rich 15, Morgan 11, Alexander 2, Haynes 1, Shaw, Goodnight 2, Ivey.

Harding 14 8 14 23 — 59