By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó Back-to-back 3-pointers by Kayla Hahn and Imani Williams completed a Northwest Cabarrus comeback and tied Tuesday’s wild game.
South girls coach Jim Brooks stared up at a scoreboard that revealed it was 61-61 with 1:25 left to play. He shook his head, but he didn’t call timeout.
“Sometimes you’ve got to find out what your kids are made of,” Brooks explained.
Brooks found out. South seniors Taylor May and Nikki Graham scored the final eight points, and the Raiders beat the Trojans 69-61 for an NPC victory. South has won three straight.
“For some reason, we just seemed to play better tonight when it was tight,” May said. “When we had a lead, we relaxed.”
May, a 6-foot Catawba signee, piled up 24 points and 23 rebounds. She made the biggest shot, a tiebreaking, lefty layup after catching a lob from Graham.
“Give (jayvee boys coach) Bryan Withers credit for that one,” May said. “He came in yesterday and worked with us.”
Graham had a monster fourth quarter, fearlessly pumping in 11 of her 20 points down the stretch in a frenzied game.
South (3-1, 2-0) enjoyed double-digit leads in the third quarter, but Hahn got crazy-hot for Northwest. She hit seven 3s, including three in the fourth quarter.
“You’ve gotta give Northwest credit because they didn’t die,” Brooks said. “They kept coming and we made it hard on ourselves by not making free throws. But, by gosh, we had some kids that were just not gonna lose. It’s nice to have kids like that.”
Graham made a clutch, driving scoop with 43 seconds left for a 65-61 lead. She and May scored 17 of South’s 18 in the fourth quarter.
Krista Haywood had eight points and six assists, and Sam Goins gave South a big boost on the boards when the Raiders got into serious foul trouble.
NW CABARRUS (61) ó Hahn 23, Nazer 15, Allen 9, Joseph 6, Williams 3, Her ring 3, Broome 2, Pethel.
SOUTH ROWAN (69) ó May 24, Graham 20, K. Haywood 8, Goins 6, Morrow 5, Sides 5, Ashley 1, Garrett, W. Haywood, Roberts.
NW Cabarrus 7 18 17 19 ó 61
S. Rowan 12 21 18 18 ó 69