By David Shaw

Salisbury Post

It didn’t take the Salisbury girls basketball team long to turn Friday’s CCC match with Central Davidson into a hearty round of batting practice.

The host Hornets dug right in and swung for the fences in a lopsided

75-25 victory.

“In a game like this you just have to work on polishing up what you already do,” coach Jennifer Shoaf said after SHS (19-2, 8-1) earned its 16th straight win. “We’re not putting anything new in at this point. We’re not changing anything. It’s just refining a few things and working on executing plays.”

Salisbury made enough of them to erase an opening-minute 3-0 deficit and barge ahead 18-8 after one quarter. Moments later, De’Rya Wylie’s fastbreak layup helped jump-start a 12-0 run that put the Hornets on top 35-10 in the second period.

“We just pushed the ball up and down the court,” said Wylie (13 points), one of four Salisbury scorers to crack double figures. “It wasn’t hard to stay focused, but we are thinking about next Friday when we’ve got a tough one against Ledford.”

The Hornets — tied with East Davidson for the conference lead with three games remaining — will play their share of thrilling contests in the coming weeks. But this one was strictly a tuneup.

“The best thing was being able to have fun,” sophomore Shi-Heria Shipp said after tossing in a game-best 16 points. “It was a chance to get better.”

Ten players scored for Salisbury while last-place Central (1-19, 0-8) was paced by senior Jenna Carrick’s nine-point effort. Her 3-pointer from the right side opened the scoring, but was one of only 10 baskets made by the Spartans.

“Jenna’s our leader, our only senior,” said Central coach Kevin Hudson. “But I’ve told her this and I’ll tell you: I wish she was a step-and-a-half quicker. She’d be a complete player if she were.”

The only speed on display belonged to Salisbury’s waterbugs racing up the court. No one was quicker than Bubbles Phifer, the freshman guard who came off the bench and nearly made the evening her own. She finished with 11 points, mostly on breakaway layups.

“Her speed was definitely an issue for them,” said Shoaf. “She had a really good game against them the last time (a 94-14 rout on Jan. 2). She got herself a lot of easy looks on transition.”

Hudson couldn’t help but notice.

“She’s as quick with the ball as anyone we’ve played against,” he said. “The way she shoots off the dribble and shoots the threes — she’s impressive.”

Salisbury, which shot 52 percent from the field (29-for-56), turned the game into an all-you-can-eat buffet in the second half. Wylie scored three consecutive baskets — each a runaway layup — to make it 49-14 midway through the third period. Shipp added an exclamation mark with pair of late baskets — a driving bank shot from the lane and a sneaky, backdoor layup.

“Speed and strength,” said Hudson. “That’s what they have. They’re able to zip passes down the court. You can tell they spend the offseason in the gym.”

It’s a program that got to put it on cruise control for one night. “We didn’t have to run a half-court offense,” Shoaf said. “It was more or less us grabbing rebounds and taking off.”

central davidson (25) — Carrick 9, Hanes 4, Leonard 3, Buie 2, Aldridge 2, Ca.Tysinger 2, Ch.Tysinger 2, Jernigan 1.

salisbury (75) — Shipp 16, Wylie 13, Williams 12, S.Phifer 11, Hicks 6, Rice 5, K.Phifer 5, Clinding 3, Knox 2, Wingerson 2, Gallagher.

C. Davidson 8 4 4 9 — 25

Salisbury 18 21 19 17 — 75

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Contact David Shaw at dshaw@salisburypost.com.