Defending champion East (8-3) swatted the Hornets 69-44 on Tuesday in the tournament opener at Goodman Gym, but it really wasn’t all that easy. The Hornets (0-9) were very much in the game for three quarters.

“We hadn’t seen them and didn’t know what to expect,” said East coach Randy Bingham. “But I thought Salisbury was a pretty good team. If they keep playing like they did against us, they’re gonna beat a lot of people.”

Buoyed by the return from injury of 1,000-point scorer Sherree Gillespie, some nice shooting by Jenny Reilly and some all-out hustle by everyone else, the Hornets trailed just 44-36 seven minutes into the second half and had the ball with a chance to buzz closer. But that’s when East’s Emily Rich stepped in front of a soft pass and took it the other way for a layup at the third-quarter buzzer to give East a 10-point lead.

“That was nice anticipation,” said Mustang coach Randy Bingham. “That might have been the turning point.”

It was. After Rich’s snitch, the teams rocketed off in opposite directions, with the Hornets making only two more field goals and turning the ball over 10 times down the stretch.

Meanwhile, East scored 12 unanswered points to blow the game wide open, showing the sort of intensity that Bingham has been searching for since opening night.

“We knew we had to pick things up,” said East forward Lora Williams. “We started slow again, but then we started playing together and that’s what won the game.”

Brooke Misenheimer opened the fourth quarter by driving hard to the basket and was awarded two free throws. She made them. Then Nicole Loggins stole the ball and from her knees shoveled it to Misenheimer for a layup, plus a foul. Misenheimer missed the free throw, but Loggins was right there to follow it up. Suddenly, it was 52-36. Loggins netted four free throws in the next few seconds and Julie Alexander fed Misenheimer for another layup. Now, it was 58-36. East had piled up 14 furious points in less than two minutes, and the game for all practical purposes was over.

“That fourth quarter was the way this team could’ve been playing all year,” said Misenheimer. “We’ve got to start playing like this for 32 minutes. We have to get away from having one or two bad quarters every game.”

East has a nice record, but really has gotten little attention since it was brutally blown out 56-27 at home by West Rowan several weeks ago.

“We’re in the shadows right now,” admitted Misenheimer. “People don’t have much respect for East basketball after we played that terrible game against West. But we’re about ready to show people that we’ve still got a basketball team. We’ve got a point to prove.”

“I do think our girls can play a lot better than they’ve shown,” added Bingham. “What they have to realize is that everyone wants to beat us. Teams really get after us and we’ve been backing down. But we’ll get it all together one of these days and play like we can. I know we will.”

There’s no time like the present for Mustang fans. East and West locked horns again today at 3 p.m.

Meanwhile, Salisbury coach Jennifer Shoaf watched her struggling team play in fits and starts.

“You’d think three weeks of practice would have made us better,” said Shoaf. “But it just made us look rusty. We didn’t play a lick of defense most of the time.”

Salisbury was down only 11 at the half, because it got the loose balls, ourtrebounded the Mustangs and held down its turnovers.

The Hornets’ defense even bottled up Loggins for long stretches (she shot only once in the third quarter) when Ternisha Charleston chased her in a box-and-one. But Salisbury tried to apply more pressure in the fourth and the Hornets were swept away when East responded with an unexpectedly fierce intensity level.

“East just turned it on in the fourth quarter,” Shoaf sighed. “We had done OKin the box-and-one, but we figured we had to do something different. We couldn’t just keep trading baskets with them. We had to make a move.”

Gillespie, who had missed six contests, and Reilly scored 14 points each, but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset 23 by Loggins, plus double-figure outings by Misenheimer, Williams and Rich.

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NOTES: Loggins had a remarkably efficient night, leading East with eight rebounds and getting 23 points on just 11 shots. She made three 3s and all six of her free throws. Nine of Misenheimer’s 15 points were in the fourth quarter. Williams keyed East’s sagging defense on Gillespie and had seven huge points in the third quarter when Salisbury was controlling Loggins. ... Reilly’s 14 points were a career high. ... Salisbury will play in the noon losers bracket game today for the third straight season. South Rowan provides the opposition.

SALISBURY(44) — Atkinson, Chunn 9, Taylor 3, Charleston, Bauk, Robinson 4, Gillespie 14, Wingerson, Reilly 14, Edwards.

EAST(69)— Loggins 23, Misenheimer 15, Rich 10, Williams 12, Poole 4, Alexander 2, Haynes 2, Morgan, Goodnight 1, Roberts, Ivey, Shaw.

Salisbury 10 14 12 8 — 44