From staff and wire reports

South Rowan’s girls  basketball team held off West  Rowan, 77-63, in the South Piedmont Conference action on Wednesday in the South gym.

Janiya Downs had 31 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out with three minutes left.  South lost Whitley Arnott, another starter, to fouls in the third quarter.

“Z Hardin made a lot of huge plays down the stretch for us to preserve the win,” South coach John Davis said.

Hardin had 10 points and 16 rebounds. Brooke Lowery had a career high 17 points, and Riley Corriher scored 14.

South (11-7, 7-5 SPC) avenged an overtime loss at West (11-6, 6-5) on Friday and moved ahead of the Falcons in the league standings.

For the Falcons, Egypt Alexander scored 23 points, Abigail Wilson scored 20, and Myanna Hillie had 12.

South 77, West 63

WEST ROWAN (63)

Alexander 23, Wilson 20, Hillie 12, Robinson 3, Poole 3, Sobataka 1, Pruitt 1, Connolly.

SOUTH ROWAN (77)

Downs 31, Lowery 17, Corriher 12, Hardin 10, McClary 5, Arnott 2, Shell, Rollins, Car. Carlton, Cam. Carlton.

W. Rowan               9     17      9    28  —  63

S. Rowan                19    21     14   23 —  77

West boys edge SR

West Rowan’s boys escaped the South Rowan gym with a 57-55 SPC victory on Wednesday.

Paris Hillie scored 18 for the Falcons (13-4, 9-2 SPC), while Caleb Mauldin had 16.

Hillie scored six points in the fourth quarter, and Martavio Rankin had a big bucket.

South (0-18, 0-12 SPC) got a career game from Dillon Kluttz, who scored 19 points. Bailey Graham hit three 3-pointers and scored 15.

Graham had eight in the fourth quarter, while Kluttz had six.

South Rowan led 55-52 with 1:46  left but couldn’t score down the stretch.

It was a valiant effort, but the Raiders dropped their 42nd straight game. South also lost a heartbreaker to West last season.

West 57, South 55

WEST ROWAN (57)

Hillie 18, Mauldin 16, Weeks 7, Love 5, Lawrence 5, Kure 2, Rankin 2, Delgado 2 .

SOUTH ROWAN (55)

Kluttz 19, Graham 15,  Shaver 6, Jones 5, Sellers 5, Powers 3, Harrington 2, Childers, Peacock, Corriher.

W. Rowan                18     12      17    10  —  57

S. Rowan                14    9       18    14 —   55

South boys vs. CM

Cox Mill topped South Rowan’s boys, 63-40, in SPC play on Tuesday.

Wendell Moore Jr. scored 22 for the second-ranked Chargers. Francis Sio had 21.

For South, Bailey Graham and Garrett Harrington scored eight each. Dillon Kluttz scored seven, and Tyler Peacock had six.

South trailed by 12 at halftime.

Cox Mill 63, South Rowan 40

COX MILL (63)

Moore 22, Sio 21, Hall 8, Cloude 6, Bynum 4, Givens 2.

S. ROWAN (40)

Graham 8, Harrington 8, Kluttz 7, Peacock 6, Powers 4, Childers 3, Sellars 2, Shaver 2, Hubbard, Corriher, Jones.

Cox Mill                  17    12   20  14 —63

S. Rowan                10  7      11  12 —  40

East boys fall

Wendell Moore Jr. scored 25 points to lead Cox Mill to a 71-42 home victory against East Rowan on Wednesday.

Caleb Stone-Carrawell scored 12 for the Chargers (14-5, 12-1 SPC) , and Francis Sio had 10.

Paiton File made four 3-pointers and scored 14 points for the Mustangs (3-16, 1-12 SPC). Lucas Morton scored 11.

Cox Mill led 20-4 after a quarter and was up 42-16 at halftime.

“When you score four in the first quarter, you’re going to struggle, no matter who you’re playing, and Cox Mill is really good,” East coach Kurt Misenheimer said. “They’re bigger, they’re faster, and they’re longer than we are. We turned  it over quite a bit and they got layups and dunks.”

Cox Mill 71, East Rowan 42

E. ROWAN (42)

File 14, Morton 11, Scruggs 6, Jefferson 5, Taylor 4, Bennett 2, Sprinkle, Hinceman.

COX MILL (71)

Moore 25, Stone-Carrawell 12, Sio 10, Johnson 6, Claude 6, Hall 6,  Cline 3, Brown 2, Givens 1.

E. Rowan                 4     12   11  15 —  42

Cox Mill                    20   22   15  14 —  71

East girls lose

East Rowan’s girls lost ot Cox Mill, 49-22, despite 11 points by Caroline Houpe.

Zynoria Winford scored five for the Mustangs (4-15, 1-12 SPC).

“We got off to a good start, but we couldn’t keep it up,” East coach Kevin Holland said. “Then their 3-point shooting opened it up, and we’ve struggled to get out of the 20s since the Christmas tournament.”

Maddy Rinkus scored 12 for  Cox Mill (7-11, 6-7 SPC).

Cox Mill 49, East Rowan 22

E. ROWAN (22)

Houpe 11, Winford 5, A. Harrison 2, Shafer 2, Trexler 1, H. Harrison 1, Honeycutt, Graham, Coughenour. McCall, Wagner.

COX MILL (49)

Rinkus 12, Milton 9,  Barker 9, Tillery 7, Gonzalez 5, Sondrini 3, Coley 2, Andrikanich 2.

E. Rowan                  6     7       7    2 —  22

Cox Mill                    12   13   17  7 —  49

Jayvee girls

Carson won against West Rowan, 36-29, on Tuesday.

Victoria Post scored 11 for the Cougars, and Taylor Conrad had 10.

Nancy Gamewell, Katie Jewell and Zoie Lee were defensive standouts.

Nasya Evans led the Falcons with 14 points.

Jayvee boys

West  Rowan’s boys beat Carson, 55-28, on Tuesday.

Hassan Biggus led the Falcons with 11 points, and JoJo Brush had nine.

Indoor track

West Rowan’s boys are ranked seventh in 3A.

Jalen Houston is ranked second in the 55 meters sprint and third in the 55  hurdles.

Cameron Butler is ranked fourth in the state in the 1000 meters.

West Rowan will be running in the David Oliver Classic this weekend in Winston Salem.

North Hills hoops

The North Hill middle school girls won against Concordia, 29-12.

Elizabeth Jones had eight points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Abigail Zunk had 10 points, four steals and three assists.

College softball

Lenoir-Rhyne is the preseason favorite in SAC softball, followed by Carson-Newman, Wingate and Catawba.

Catawba outfielder Kristen Stinnard is on the preseason All-SAC first team.

DP Katherine Shumaker is on the second team.

East travel baseball

The East Rowan 10-U travel team is seeking players for the 2017 season.

Players must play in the East Rowan Diamond Sports league this spring.

To request a tryout, please email erbaseball24@gmail.com.

7th-grade boys

West Rowan’s boys beat Corriher-Lipe  49-37.

Robert Featherstone scored all 13 of his points in the second half to help West  (1-1) pull away from the Yellow Jackets (0-2).

Athan Gill added 12 points for the Bulldogs.  Spenser Harrison had six points, and Josh Noble had four points, 10 rebounds   and three blocks.

Jordyn Rivers had 16 points for Corriher- Lipe.

West will next play Southeast on Monday.

7th-grade girls

Erwin’s girls  defeated North Rowan, 30-23.

Maddie Honeycutt led the Eagles with 10 points, Mary Spry scored eight, and  Katelyn Griggs had six for the Eagles (2-0).

North Rowan was led by Chloe Stoner with 10 points.

Local golf

Eighteen GARS members played at Warrior.

Low ‘A’ Flight player was Les Loman with a net of 67.70. Low ‘B’ Flight player was O.J. Chandler with a net of 70.19.

Low ‘C’ Flight player was Ben Moore with a net of 64.48. Low ‘D’ Flight player was Floyd McVey with a net of 67.89.

Buddy Barger 82, shot 82. Chandler 87, shot 84.

Pirates win

GREENVILLE, N.C.   — Kentrell Barkley had 19 points and 11 rebounds and East Carolina held on to defeat Tulsa 69-66 on Wednesday night to end a six-game losing streak.

Elijah Hughes added 12 points, Andre Washington had eight with 12 rebounds and three blocks and Deng Riak had six points with 11 boards for the Pirates (10-11, 2-6 American).

Tulsa (11-8, 5-2), which had won four straight, was down by 13 with 8:14 to play. A 3-point play by Jaleel Wheeler pulled the Golden Hurricanes with 67-66 with 1:03 remaining.

Tulsa missed its last four shots, including two 3-pointers and an attempted dunk on its last possession after Barkley made two free throws for East Carolina with 20 seconds left.

Junior Itou had 18 of his career-high 31 points in the second half, including eight in the closing run, for Tulsa. He also grabbed 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double.

WCU falls

GREENVILLE, S.C.  — Devin Sibley scored 25 points and Furman won its 14th straight Southern Conference home game, rolling over Western Carolina 85-37 on Wednesday night.

Sibley made all three of 3-pointers and Daniel Fowler was 3 of 5 from the arc in scoring 11 points with Furman making 11 of 24 treys. Kris Acox added 12 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year.

Sibley had 15 points in the first half when the Palladins (13-8, 6-3) ran away early to a 40-14 lead.

Furman shot 54.5 percent and scored 22 points off 14 turnovers in winning its third in a row.

The Catamounts (6-15, 1-7), losing for the seventh time in eight games, shot just 27 percent, made 1 of 12 3-pointers and didn’t have a player score in double figures.

Miami nips BC

CORAL GABLES, Fla.   — A door swung shut in coach Jim Larranaga’s face as he left the arena hallway shortly after the University of Miami’s game Wednesday. He avoided injury on a night of close calls for the Hurricanes.

They led by 17 points with less than nine minutes left but had to make their final 13 free-throw attempts to hold on and beat Boston College, 78-77.

“I was praying the rosary,” Larranaga said.

Junior Ja’Quan Newton had a career-high 23 points, including four free throws in the final 27 seconds, and Miami beat BC for the 12th time in a row. since 2010.

The Hurricanes (13-6, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a two-game losing streak and won despite going the final five minutes of each half without a basket.

The Eagles (9-12, 2-6) lost for the sixth time in their past seven games.

Boston College’s Ky Bowman made 1 of 2 free throws with six seconds left to make it 76-74, but Miami’s Bruce Brown sank two free throws with five seconds to go, sealing the victory.

Brown was only 1 for 6 at the line before his final trip there.

“I knew I was going to make the free throws,” he said. “I usually make them, but today they weren’t falling.”