LANDIS — South Rowan’s girls basketball team made it clear it isn’t just renting space atop the SPC standings.

The Raiders, unbeaten in league play and tied for first place, scored the final 10 points Friday night and swept past visiting Carson 61-57.

“It’s no mistake,” senior Cassidy Chipman said after South (5-2 overall) won its fifth conference game. “It’s true what everybody says. We are on top.”

No one got higher than Chipman. The 5-foot-10 forward matched her career-best with 33 points and reeled in 16 rebounds in a forget-me-not performance. “She manhandled us,” said Carson coach Brooke Misenheimer. “Or put it this way — she killed us.”

Chipman dominated on a night when South’ Avery Locklear, the senior who was averaging nearly 19 points-per-game before tipoff, drifted well off-course. Plagued by early foul trouble, her only field goal came with 1:58 remaining in the third quarter. She came to the bench two minutes into second quarter, returned to start the third and finished with a season-low six points and four personals.

“When (Locklear) went out it didn’t change anything,” said SR senior Sylvetta Bost. “We just did what we had to do.”

Winning coach Jarrod Smith was worried about Carson (3-5, 2-2) before, during and even after the victory. “You’re always going to get their best shot,” he said. “They came out and played hard and so did we. It was the same way in the playoff game last year. You’ve just got to hang around and see what happens in the end.”

Misenheimer called it a “missed opportunity” when the Cougars failed to capitalize on Locklear’s brief absence, instead jogging to their locker room tied 20-20 at halftime.

“We were trying to keep both of them down in the scoring column,” said Alex Allen, Carson’s top scorer with 18 points. “That’s why it’s so nice to have Chipman. She just took over.”

It was Chipman, with 19 second-half points, who ignited South’s game-winning rally shortly after Maren Shumaker converted both ends of a one-and-one, pushing Carson ahead 57-51 with 1:41 to play. “At that point our hopes were really high,” Allen added. “It was just a matter of keeping our heads and not spazzing out.”

Chipman brought the crowd to its feet seconds later when she drained a 30-foot jumper from beyond the key, trimming the deficit to 57-54. “Hey, six points down late in the game,” she said with sly smile. “If nobody’s going to guard me out there I’m taking that shot. That’s in my range.”

“She has the green light right there,” Smith noted. “That’s a shot Cassidy practices all the time. It’s not unusual for her to make it.”

Two free throws by Kayla McClendon and another by Locklear tied the score with 31 seconds remaining. A layup by Bost put the Raiders ahead with 22 seconds to go and a Chipman stickback with two ticks on the clocked sealed it.

“There’s a long way to go,” Smith said. “Being tied for first is a lot better than not being tied for first. But I saw something during a timeout. These girls weren’t gonna let this slip away.”

 

BOX SCORE

Carson (57): Allen 18, Gabriel 16, Huffman 6, Roberson 6, Wiggins 5, Ketchie 2, McClary 2, Shumaker 2, Furr, Turney.

South Rowan (61): Chipman 33, Bost 13, Locklear 6, McClendon 4, Martin 3, Hubbard 2, Waters, Chabala.

Carson 10  10  19  18 — 57

South Rowan 11  9  19  22 — 61