By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
LANDIS ó A smile crossed the face of South Rowan girls coach Jarrod Smith because he’d seen Nicole Barringer get hot before.
Barringer scored South’s first eight points of the second half, scored 13 in the third quarter and led a 64-42 blowout of Central Cabarrus on Tuesday. Smith coached Barringer on the jayvees last season. They’ve both stepped up a level.
“Nicole is probably our best shooter, and when she’s hot, she’s hot,” Smith said. “The thing is a lot of girls can get hot on 3s. She can get hot on 3s, mid-range and attacking the basket. She scores a lot of ways.”
Coming off a 42-point smackdown by A.L. Brown, the Raiders needed a win. Everything went wrong against the Wonders, but Smith welcomed Lauren “Goose” Miller (ankle) and Chelsea McManus (concussion) back, and South looked a lot better than in its previous outing.
“Defensively, we were a whole lot better,” Smith said. “Ten times better on our rotations. I was proud of the pressure we put on them.”
Central (1-1) got 18 points from post player Dee Polk, but the Vikings are so pressable Central coach Andrea Stinson, the former WNBA star, may as well have walked into the South gym carrying an ironing board.South (1-1) forced 19 Central turnovers in the first half and 14 more in the third quarter when it outscored the Vikings 23-8. Central was 0-22 last season so it’s not like South was beating up on Salisbury, but when you’re replacing four starters, every win is a positive.
Libby Sides scored 10 points. Miller and Kayla Morrow had nine apiece to help out Barringer.
South led by just two late in the first half, but a 10-foot banker by Sides and two free throws by Miller provided a 27-21 lead at the break.
As the second half opened, Barringer had her flurry ó a 3-pointer, a stickback and three free throws ó to push South’s edge to 35-23.
“I had a bad first half (she was 0-for-2) and just really wanted to play better than that,” Barringer said. “I made that first 3 and that got my confidence up a little bit.”
Barringer hit two more 3s and assisted on baskets by Sides and McManus as the Raiders pulled away.
“We played more as a team tonight,” Barringer said. “We had all the jitters out from that first game.”
Central cabarrus (42) ó Polk 18, Badogen 5, Thompson 5, Gudger 4, Hubbard 3, Solomon 3, Roughton 2, Fulford 2, Johnson, Black,
south rowan (64) ó Barringer 16, Sides 10, Morrow 9, Miller 9, McManus 7, Caple 7, Goins 3, Corriher 2, Swartz 1, Stancil, Weber, Waldroup, Bost, Lookabill, Mabry.
C. Cabarrus 9 12 8 13 ó 42
S. Rowan 10 17 23 14 ó 64