STATESVILLE — Avery Locklear and Cassidy Chipman delivered a one-two punch for South Rowan Thursday night to spark a solid 64-43 North Piedmont Conference win at West Iredell.
Locklear racked up 30 points, including 18 in the second half while Chipman scored 18 of her own. The sophomore duo also controlled the backboards, especially on the offensive end, giving the Raiders the edge they needed to pull away to a lopsided win. Chipman grabbed 11 boards in the first half, 14 overall while Locklear pulled down 10 more.
“The last few game I haven’t been getting my scoring level, “ Chipman said, “so I decided to get in there early and start reboundng. That made a big difference in the game.”
In a battle to avoid the NPC basement, South closed out a three games in three night’s stretch that included two NPC wins. They stand 2-5 in the league, 5-13 overall while the host Warriors fell to 1-6, 2-12. Their only league win came against South in December.
“Tonight we played smart and we stayed smart, “ South coach Jarrod Smith noted in comparing the game to their previous encounter with West. “We didn’t attack them as much on defense, rather we sat back and let them pass it to us. It worked out well.”
Chipman led the Raiders out of the gate early with 8 points and five rebounds in the first period resulting in a 17-9 lead. She opened the second quarter with two putback lay-ups to keep the big lead. After a slow shooting start Locklear warmed up with three baskets and a pair of free throws to make the score 32-18 at half.
“I couldn’t hit anything early, “Locklear said. “I had to get comfortable first. But we all played hard tonight.”
A lot of the hard play came in the second half when the Warriors kept pushing the ball inside and pressing on defense despite a 20 point deficit. The result was a lot of physical play and a host of personal fouls.
Warrior star player Elizabeth Webb was saddled with three first half fouls and a quick fourth after halftime to hamper any real comeback hopes. She finished with 15, mostly in the late stages with the game out of reach.
South’s 5-0 point guard Sylvetta Bost had a strong game with six points and four rebounds.
SOUTH ROWAN (64) — Locklear 30, Chipman 18, Bost 6, Hubbard 5, Martin 4, Kam Stamey 1.
WEST IREDELL (43) — Webb 15, Summers 8, Snouse 6, Boggs 4, Colman 3, Feimster 3, Morrison 2, Heath 2, Allison

S. Rowan 17 15 14 18 — 64
W. Iredell 6 12 11 14 — 43