CONCORD — Central Cabarrus girls coach Brandon Blalock wasn’t thrilled with the news that West Rowan’s Khaila Hall is only a sophomore, but he was happy to get a win.
Central held off West 65-61 on Tuesday in an SPC struggle that was often an old-fashioned game of H.O.R.S.E. between Hall and Central freshman Mahaley Holit.
Hall scored a career-high 28, but her effort was offset by the 5-foot-3 Holit, who scooted for 27. Hall made three 3-pointers, while Holit lived on the foul line and made 11 free throws.
“Hall can go,” Blalock said. “When she got her third foul in the first half it was one of the key moments in the game. After that, we knew we had to try to keep attacking her.”
West was already playing without Shanice Miller (ankle), so when Hall got her third foul with 2:42 left in the first half and took a seat next to coach Ashley Poole, the Falcons were in trouble.
West was down 25-21 when Hall had to sit. Central stretched that lead to 35-26 by halftime.
Central outscored the Falcons 25-10 from the foul line and looked like it would win easily. The Vikings’ lead peaked at 56-40 with seven minutes left, but Taylor Martin passed to Hall for a layup to start a West comeback bid.
“This was a hard game, and for a long time nothing went our way,” Hall said. “But in the fourth quarter, we picked up our intensity.”
Martin’s 3 with 3:40 remaining got West within 10 at 60-50, and when Berkley Allesandrini hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left, the Falcons (2-6, 1-3) were down 61-55, and still had time.
But Kelsey Adcock and Elanna Peay made important free throws to help Central (3-5, 3-1) hold the lead, and Holit clinched the victory with two free throws with 5 seconds left.
“I wasn’t happy with our fourth quarter,” Blalock said. “West is a tough team, and I thought they just started out-fighting us for a lot of balls. We made a lot of silly turnovers, and honestly, I thought we were pretty lucky to get out with a win.”
Quanice Miller scored 11 points and Martin had nine, but West fell to 2-6 overall and 1-3 in the SPC.
“Coach Poole told us this was a step in the right direction,” Hall said. “We fought hard to the end, and we’ll keep working.”

WEST (61) — Hall 28, Q. Miller 11, Martin 9, Cowan 4, Allesandrini 3, Greene 3, Lovell 2, Yow 1, Goddard.
C. CABARRUS (65) — Holit 27, Adcock 12, Haggans 9, Peay 8, Wallace 6, McFarlane 2, Muhammad 1.

W. Rowan 11 15 12 23 — 61
C. Cabarrus 13 22 17 13 — 65