CHINA GROVE — Carson senior Sydney Huffman felt personally responsible for the Cougars’ opening-night loss to A.L. Brown, but she bounced back against Central Cabarrus on Monday.

Huffman’s career-high 21 points pushed Carson to a 64-52 win against Central Cabarrus in the SPC opener for both teams.

“I could’ve had 10 points in the first quarter alone against A.L. Brown, but I missed some layups,” Huffman said. “I was ready to do better tonight, and we worked as a unit well. My teammates gave me some great passes.”

The game began with Carson’s freshman point guard Olivia Gabriel finding Huffman inside, and Huffman finished strong in traffic.

“A good start was important for Sydney,” Carson coach Brooke Misenheimer said. “That boosted her confidence.”

Carson was up by as many as nine points in the first half, but Central Cabarrus made a nice comeback that was fueled by four Kelsey Adcock 3-pointers. The Cougars led 31-30 at halftime.

The third quarter proved decisive, and the key was  a seven-point spree in a matter of seconds by Huffman. She made a 3-pointer, scored in the lane on a dish by Alex Allen and then finished on another assist by Gabriel. Huffman turned a 37-32 game into 44-32 in a hurry. Carson dominated the third quarter 17-7.

“The third quarter was the difference,” Misenheimer said. “We played better defense on 13 (Adcock), we pushed the ball for some easy shots and we rebounded better. Alex Allen had a monster rebounding game.”

Gabriel scored 18 points and was just a few assists shy of her first triple-double. Allen had 10 points and more than 20 rebounds. The Cougars also got important contributions from Chrishona Roberson, Maren Shumaker and Taylor Wiggins.

Adcock and Mahaley Holit scored 13 each for the Vikings.

CENTRAL (52) 

Holit 13, Adcock 13, Rowden 9, Macfarlane 9, Wallace 4, Benton 2, Muhammad 2.

CARSON (64)   

Huffman 21, Gabriel 18, Allen 10, Shumaker 6, Roberson 5, Wiggins 4, Turney, Furr, Ketchie, McClary.

Central 13    17   7   15   —  52

Carson  18   13   17  16 — 64