By Ronnie Gallagher

Salisbury Post

Early in the fourth quarter of the Salisbury-West Davidson matchup Tuesday, the scoreboard read 25-20 in the Hornets’ favor.

Someone joked that the “1” on the scoreboard was out. “It’s really 125-20,” he laughed.

That wasn’t far-fetched thinking, considering Salisbury had buried the Green Dragons 81-27 in an earlier meeting.

But it was true. West Davidson coach David Klinkoski said his team played better defense this time, getting a hand in the Hornets’ face in a 41-26 Salisbury victory.

The result was missed shot after missed shot after missed shot …

After missed shot.

“It was crazy,” disheartened Salisbury coach Jennifer Shoaf said. “There was no intensity. We just seemed to be going through the motions. I don’t know if it was the fact we beat them so bad the first time. I don’t know. I really don’t know. We had no fire in us at all.”

But Salisbury (20-2) did have its usual intimidating defense. The Green Dragons never scored more than eight points in a quarter, that coming in the third when they outscored Salisbury 8-7 and had their fans starting to feel a little confident.

But the Hornets finally found their shooting eye in the fourth, scoring 16 points. Kwameshia Hicks hit a couple of 3-pointers to put some distance between Salisbury and the upset-minded Green Dragons (4-14,

1-8 CCC).

“I want them to play the rest of the year like they did tonight,” Klinkoski said.

Shoaf never wants her team to play like that again. She had only one double-figure scorer as Hicks managed 11 points. No one else had more than seven.

“It’s a big concern when you’re not scoring,” Shoaf said. “We’ve been in a slump. Our percentage is in the 20s, and that’s not acceptable. You can’t fuss about the shots we’re taking. You just hope sooner or later something’s going to go in.”

Shoaf was even shaking her head as her team led 18-11 at halftime.

“We usually have 18 in the first quarter,” he said. “But it wasn’t one player. It was the whole team. We can’t shoot like that and expect to tie East Davidson for first.”

Shoaf said Salisbury’s slump began two weeks ago against Ledford, the foe that plays host to the Hornets on Friday.

“That’s a tough environment,” she said. “They will definitely be hungry because they played us so well the first time (a 41-36 Hornet win).”

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NOTES: Salisbury actually is in first place alone at 9-1, a half-game ahead of East Davidson, which was idle Tuesday. … This is the fourth straight season Salisbury has won at least 20 games.

West Davidson (26) — Whitaker 8, Redd 4, Boone 4, Hill 4, Owens 2, Koontz 2, Elmore 2, Scouten.

Salisbury (41) — Hicks 11, Williams 7, Knox 6, Gallagher 6, Shipp 6, B. Phifer 2, Wylie 2, Cinding 1, N. Phifer.

W. Davidson 6 6 8 6 — 26

Salisbury 7 11 7 16 — 41

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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com.