By Mike Duprez
sports@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Salisbury has ruled the roost in girls’ basketball in the CCC for a long time and the Hornets have won the last three 2-A state championships. But the gap appears to be narrowing.
In a two-girl one-two punch, Brielle Blaire scored 19 points and Doreen Richardson had 16 as the Hornets rallied from an early eight point deficit and held off East Davidson 55-45.
Salisbury is now 14-2 overall and 3-0 in the CCC. Still, the Eagles are getting closer.
“I hope we are,” said East coach Don Corry. “A 10-point ball game when they’ve been burying everybody this year. We had a game plan and stuck with it. We just made a few bad passes that let them get out in transition.”
The feeling was one of survival for Salisbury.
“As always, we’re going to get everybody’s best shot every night,” said Salisbury coach Chris McNeil. “Every team in this conference has improved. You just don’t know on any given night. Hats off to East Davidson.”
Lori Morgan led the way for East (10-6 overall, 2-2 CCC) with 16 points and Taylor Bell had nine.
The Eagles opened the game with a 10-2 run. Salisbury used a 15-0 run to go up 22-14 in the second quarter and held a 29-20 lead at halftime.
Play was chippy in this one, too, with a lot of no calls. But Salisbury got the best of it, shooting 23 free throws and making 13. The Eagles shot just four three throws and made one.
“The play was more physical than we thought it would be,” Corry said. “But those things happen. We understand it. My girls left it all out on the floor.”
Nobody would argue that point.
Salisbury blew out to a 15-point lead in the third quarter. But the Eagles came charging back. They used a 9-0 run in the fourth quarter to make it real intersting. Bell’s 3-pointer cut Salisbury’s lead to 43-39 with over five minutes left.
But Richardson got loose on a pair of fast breaks and Salisbury turned the tide. Blaire and Richardson accounted for all 14 Salisbury points in the final eight minutes.
SALISBURY (55) — B. Blaire 19, Richardson 16, A. Blaire 7, Connor 6, Usry 3, Caldwell 2, Angle 2, Harris.
EAST DAVIDSON (45) — Morgan 16, Bell 9, Harvell 6, Isom 6, Welborn 6, Pope 2.
Salisbury 15 14 12 14 — 55
E. Dav. 14 6 10 15 — 45