From staff and wire reports

South Rowan’s girls basketball team won against Concord, 52-24, in South Piedmont Conference play on Friday.

Janiya Downs led the Raiders (9-6, 5-4 SPC) with  23 points and 10 rebounds.

Tazah Hardin had 10 points and seven steals. Riley Corriher scored seven points. Whitley Arnott blocked five shots.

South led 31-8 at halftime and cruised from there. The Raiders have won four in a row.

SOUTH (52)

Downs 23, Hardin 10, Corriher 7, Arnott 4, Lowery 3, McClary 2, Cam. Carlton 2, Wagner 2, Car. Carlton, Rollins, Shell, Spratt.

CONCORD (24)

Smith 8, Clark 4, Privette 3, Miller 2, Williams 2, Gravely 2, Stevenson 2, Hood 1.

S. Rowan    10    21   16    5  — 52

Concord     2      6     6    10  — 24

•••

Salisbury’s girls rolled at Thomasville, 62-42, in Central Carolina Conference action on Friday

Maria Capito scored 15 points for the  fourth-ranked Hornets (10-1, 1-0 CCC), who have won 10 straight since an opening loss.

Bryanna Troutman had 13 points, 14 rebounds and five assists.

Tyzarea Alexander had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Anayia Fulson scored 11 points and made four steals.

Mystjakal Phifeer had six points and four rebounds.

•••

Hickory Ridge’s top-ranked girls rolled against Cox Mill, 60-31, in SPC play on Friday.

Hickory Ridge was led by Gabby Smith with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

•••

Mahaley Holit scored 18 points to lead Central Cabarrus to a 48-45 SPC win against Robinson on Friday.

Jada McMillan scored 12 for the Bulldogs.

CCHS: 10, 10, 13, 15 (48)

JMR: 8, 12, 14, 12 (45)

  

Boys basketball

Salisbury roared back from a 15-point halftime deficit but missed a 3-point shot at the end in a 67-64 loss at Thomasville in Central Carolina Conference action on Friday.

Tre Oats scored a career-high 25 points for the Hornets. Trell Baker scored 23.

Jahare Taylor Thomas led the Bulldogs with 19.

SALISBURY (64)

Oats 25, Baker 23, Williams 4, Leckonby 3, Horne 2, Gill 2, Fisher 2, Holmes 2, Harris 1.

THOMASVILLE (67)

Taylor Thomas 19, Cunningham 13, Whiteside 11, Wise 9, Byrd 6, Jenkins 4, Johnson 3, Breaux 2.

Salisbury     13   15   19   17 — 64

Thomasville 24  19  10  14  — 67

Davie lost to Parkland in a Central Piedmont Conference game, 66-65, on Friday.

Heath Slabach scored 16 points for the War Eagles.  Cory Heiner had 15, and Michael Walton scored 14.

•••

Lew Harris Jr. scored 20 points to spark A.L. Brown to a 58-55 MECKA win against Hopewell on Friday.

HOPEWELL (55)

Sherrill 22, Forney 10, Dixon 7, Cannady 6, Berg 3, Acker 2, Williams 2

AL BROWN (58)

Harris 20, Williamson 15, Medley 11, Argrabright 6, Bivins 4, Massey 2.

Hopewell     13   12   9   21  — 55

A.L. Brown    18  12  8   2  — 58

Jayvees

Payne Stolsworth made two late free throws to lift West Rowan’s boys to a 40-38 win against Northwest Cabarrus.

Jay Joseph led the Falcons with 12 points.

•••

Carson’s girls won against East Rowan, 37-29, on Friday.

Nancy Gamewell scored 12 points for the Cougars.

Kamden Johnson scored 13 for the Mustangs.

Defensive standouts for Carson were  Katie Jewell and Victoria Post.

College hoops

The Livingstone-Shaw basketball games that were scheduled for today were postponed to Jan. 23.

NFL

KANSAS CITY, Mo.   — The AFC divisional playoff game between the Steelers and Chiefs on Sunday has been moved from an early afternoon kickoff to primetime because of an ice storm due to hit the Kansas City area this weekend.

The game was originally scheduled to kick off at 12:05 p.m. Central time. It will now start at 7:20 p.m. to give road crews and public safety officials more time to treat roads and parking lots.

“If people are going to the game, slow down, leave early and be cautious,” said Troy Schulte, the city manager for Kansas City, Missouri, where Arrowhead Stadium sits just off Interstate 70.

The forecast calls for ice to move into the area Friday, and persistent cold temperatures throughout Saturday and Sunday. More precipitation is expected Sunday, though mostly in the form of cold rain.

“We talked about all the options,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said.

but “it’s the Commissioner’s decision.”

Donovan said he began having conversations with the league office on Wednesday, when the forecast began to look dire. Those discussions continued Thursday, and he spoke with commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday morning, at which point the league decided to move the kickoff time.

“This storm has the potential to be pretty damaging,” Donovan said. “We talked a lot about the weather, what the experts are telling us. It’s changed so much the last few days, we wanted to make sure we had the most up-to-date information. But we also talked about the importance of making a decision quickly so we can prepare.”

The time change means the Packers-Cowboys game scheduled to kick off at 3:40 p.m. Central time on Fox on Sunday will serve as the lead-in for the Steelers-Chiefs game, which will remain on NBC.

The Chiefs have already played a couple of home games in inclement weather this season, including a frigid matchup with Tennessee in early December. The official temperature at kickoff that day was 1 degree, which tied the 1983 season finale against Denver for coldest game in Arrowhead Stadium history.

As if the cold, wet weather expected Sunday night wasn’t bad enough, the Chiefs decided to re-sod the field between the hash marks earlier this week, which could leave a quagmire for the game.

Chiefs president Mark Donovan said Monday the grounds crew monitored the forecast to determine the best time to do the work, but that forecast has changed considerably since the decision was made.

“Based on milder temperatures coming in, felt like we could do it this weekend,” Donovan said. “It’s always something that our grounds crew is a little nervous on just because you want to see everything come off the truck the right way, you want it to go down the right way.”

The Steelers are planning to leave for Kansas City earlier than normal on Saturday to account for the weather, though team officials did not specify when they planned to arrive.

“The Steelers have been monitoring the potential storm near Kansas City and fully support the NFL’s decision to move the game to Sunday night,” team spokesman Burt Lauten said.

This isn’t the first time they’ve dealt with time changes, either.

In 2004, Ben Roethlisberger’s first NFL start against the Miami Dolphins was delayed from an early afternoon kickoff to a night game because of Hurricane Jeanne. The hurricane moved out by game time, but a tropical depression brought rain, wind and muddy conditions for the game.

The Steelers also had to adapt travel plans because of Superstorm Sandy in 2012 for their game against the New York Giants. They wound up arriving the same day as the game, rather than traveling the day before like normal, and proceeded to win 24-20.

Not surprisingly, the hazardous weather has sent ticket prices plummeting. The game is expected to be sold out, but tickets on the secondary market were available for about $50 in the upper levels of Arrowhead Stadium on Friday afternoon, and lower-level seats were about $100.