By David Shaw
sports@salisburypost.com
MOUNT ULLA ó Looks like Ayana Avery and her West Rowan teammates will be having themselves a merry little Christmas.
One night after dropping 40 points on North Rowan, the junior guard poured in 26 and surpassed 1,000 for her career, sparking a 58-52 stunner over previously unbeaten Davie County on Tuesday.
“It was a good night,” Avery understated after West won its third straight and improved to 4-2 overall. “I got my thousand, we beat an unbeaten team and everybody played well.”
West played as well as it has all season, so well that winning coach Erich Epps offered, “That’s by far and away the biggest win we’ve had here in a long time,” he said. “It ranks up there with beating East (Rowan) my first year here.”
It didn’t start out very promising for the Falcons.
Davie, which hadn’t been truly challenged in its first seven games, forced eight West turnovers in the opening five minutes. Not surprisingly, the War Eagles (7-1) jumped to an 11-6 lead.
“The girls were dribbling up the sideline against their pressure defense,” Epps said. “Later on we stopped, we caught it, we pivoted and passed it to the middle. Once we broke their press, we’d get these layups.
No one got more of them than 14-year-old freshman Shay Steele, a 6-foot-1 lefty with a quick first step. She scored 10 points in the second quarter, when West turned a 19-16 deficit into a 30-24 halftime edge.”I beat them to the slot and didn’t rush my shots,” Steele said after finishing with a season-best 16 points. “You just have to be patient and play together, play with no fear.”
There was 5:49 left in the third quarter when Avery set up in the right corner and drilled a 3-pointer, giving her 1,000 career points.
The game wasn’t halted, but the compliments came pouring in.
“She’s such a great player,” Davie coach Debbie Evans said. “You can’t give her an inch. You always have to be aware of her on the court because she can burn you from anywhere.”
Avery needed to stop, drop and roll down the stretch because she was on fire. She made her fifth 3-pointer of the game ó and fourth of the second half ó with 1:38 to play, giving the Falcons a 53-48 lead.
“This is a good feeling,” she beamed. “I’ll take the points any day, but it’s so much better to get the win.”
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NOTES: Avery’s scoring average is 24.8 points per game. … Third-seeded West will face South Rowan in the first round of the Christmas tournament. No. 2 Davie opens against seventh-seeded East Rowan.
DAVIE COUNTY (52) ó J.Dixon 20, Hendricks 8, Clement 6, Smoot 6, Holland 3, Stellar 3, K.Dixon 2, Steed 2, Stevenson 2, Tucker.
West ROWAN (58) ó Avery 26, Steele 16, Cross 7, Holloway 5, Watkins 4, Ball, Parker, As.Dutton, Al.Dutton.
Davie Co. 13 11 14 14 ó 52
West Rowan 12 18 14 14 ó 58