Miller's Rebounding Helps West Girls Down South

BY ED DUPREE
SALISBURY POST

Emily Miller and her West Rowan basketball teammates finally found a way to beat county rival South Rowan on Wednesday night, and now the Lady Falcons are aiming for the No. 1 seed in the Sam Moir Christmas Classic.

Miller's 15 rebounds played a big role in West's 62-52 triumph in a nonconference game at the South gym - the first win for the Lady Falcons over a South team in five tries over two seasons.

Coach Angie Waddell's West club, 5-1 for the season and riding a four-game winning streak, had lost to South 68-64 at West two weeks earlier.

"We were ready to play," said Miller, a 5-foot-11 senior forward who also had eight points, three steals, two blocked shots and two assists. "I was wanting it pretty bad. ... I boxed out and went for it.

Everybody helped out and contributed to the rebounding."

West outrebounded South a whopping 46-28 with Miller, forward Kate Goodman (seven), point guard Kari Schenk (seven), forward Sara Pieper (five) and reserve forward Danielle Scearce (five) all hitting the boards hard.

"I'm ecstatic. They had all the heart in the world, and they wanted to win," said Waddell, West's second-year head coach. "At halftime, according to my stats, we were getting outrebounded (West actually had a 17-15 edge at the half). We told them the only way we were going to win the game was defense, hustle and rebounding. That's always what we preach every game - defense, hustle and rebounding - and that will win you ball games."

The scoring and overall play of Schenk (17 points, seven assists), Pieper (16 points) and Goodman (13 points, three steals) obviously was a big factor in the win, but Waddell thought Miller's overall game was the difference.

"I thought everybody stepped up and played well; they wanted to win the game real bad. ... Emily Miller did an excellent job, I thought. She was a very dominating factor as far as doing the little things on defense, getting her hands on the ball and making the outlet pass," said the coach. As for the 15 rebounds, Waddell said, "That was huge; it really was."

Waddell also thought it was huge in her coaching career, calling it her biggest win so far. "Last year, we lost to them three times and lost to them the first time this year. The fifth time, we're about due."

South, led by Latoya Ramsey's outside shooting (19 points), Janetta Heggins' 17 points and nine rebounds, and Jackie Wood's 10 points and eight boards, would probably have nailed down the No. 1 seed for the holiday tournament with a victory. Now, Coach James Greene's Lady Raiders are 5-2 heading into Friday's nonconference home game with Mooresville.

West is in the lead for the top seed in the tournament with its 5-1 mark, followed by South, East Rowan (4-2), North Rowan and Salisbury (each 3-2) and Davie County 3-3.

"We got two huge ones - big, big huge ones, North and East," said Waddell. "They're very important, and both are very quality teams. We can't slouch and expect to win. But, if we keep playing like this, we're going to win."

South led 31-29 at halftime and was still on top by 44-43 after a Heggins basket early in the fourth quarter. West wrapped it up by going on a 12-0 run, capped off by four straight baskets by Pieper.

"I think this loss last night was well deserved," said Greene. "I think West Rowan played a more aggressive ball game. They took it to us on the boards. I think we shouldn't get beat on the boards, but a lack of aggressiveness was the reason."

Greene said he feels his team will learn from back-to-back losses to North and South in a span of six days.

"I think we are learning a whole lot. I'm telling the kids it's a team game. We've just got to stay together as a team, think as a team and we'll be O.K. I think we need to go ahead and learn from these two losses. We'll be OK at the Christmas tournament, I think."