By Mike London

Salisbury Post

MOUNT ULLA — South Rowan and West Rowan combined for 76 turnovers in a girls basketball game that careened into the ditches more than it stayed between the white lines.

The frantic pace on Tuesday suited West better. The Falcons got 20 points from Brooke Taylor and 15 from Rachel Graham — both career highs — and handled the tall Raiders 59-46. It was West’s 10th straight victory over its county rival.

South’s Katie Wise had a rare triple-double. The 6-foot-3 junior contributed 11 rebounds, 10 blocks and 10 points, but she couldn’t prevent the avalanche of turnovers.

“South’s big people are impressive, but we thought we could press them, make them turn it over and get them in foul trouble,” West coach Bob Blake said. “We wanted to take advantage of our quickness and create as much chaos as possible.”

Mission accomplished.

South’s scorebook was a blur of pencil marks by halftime. Katherine Van Wieren had four fouls. Wise had three. South trailed only 28-25 at the break, but eventually fouls and West’s depth took over.

“We’re carrying eight players, so we’ve got to learn not to foul,” South coach Jim Brooks said. “They knocked us around, put a lot of pressure on us, and there were times we got rattled and got away from the things we do in practice. We’ve just got to move our feet and get in better position.”

South (2-1) barely won the rebounding battle — 41-39. South committed 41 turnovers. The Falcons (1-0) had 35.

“We wanted to try to outrun them as much as we could — try to get them tired,” said West guard Erin Foster, who scored 11 points off the bench.

Both teams started nervously, but five quick points by Foster helped the Falcons take a 14-8 lead after the first quarter. South didn’t make its first field goal until Van Wieren put back on her own miss 51/2 minutes into the game.

West led 33-29 midway through the third quarter, but with Van Wieren sitting, the Falcons put together a 14-4 spurt to take control. Scoring inside and outside, Taylor had 11 points in the third quarter.

“It was our first game, and you’re nervous at first, but it gets better as you go along,” Taylor said. “South’s very good at blocking shots, but finally the shots started falling.”

Despite playing with foul trouble, Wise had five of her blocks in the third quarter.

There was still some doubt with West leading by 10 with 6:20 to go, but Foster found Rhonda Turner inside for a three-point play, and Graham’s 3-pointer made it 55-39.

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NOTES: Taylor May scored 10 points for South. Krista Haywood scored eight, six at the line. … South’s Kim Wilson fouled out, and Brown hurt her left wrist in the second half.

SOUTH ROWAN (46) –Wise 10, May 10, Haywood 8, Van Wieren 6, Houston 4, Wilson 3, Brown 3, Morton 2.

WEST ROWAN (59) — Taylor 20, Graham 15, Foster 11, Cox 4, Turner 4, Simmons 2, Sawyer 2, Kraft 1, Sawyer, Adams, Izze, Stout, Dickerson.

S. Rowan 8 17 8 13 — 46

W. Rowan 14 14 19 12 — 59

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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com.