From staff reports

Carson’s girls opened the basketball season with a 52-35 win against 4A non-conference foe Hopewell on Saturday night in China Grove.

McKenzie Gadson led the Cougars with 18 points.  Olivia Gabriel scored 16, including 9-for-10 foul shooting, and surpassed 1,200 points for her career.

Carson got off to slow start, but a 20-point second quarter put the Cougars in front, 29-20, at halftime. Then they pulled away in the third quarter.

“We had a few jitters and we missed so many layups, so many good scoring opportunities early in the game,” Carson coach Brooke Stouder said. “But we did a good job to keep playing hard through all those misses. We did a good job in our press, got a lot of deflections. Eventually we were able to pull away.”

It was the first loss for Hopewell. The Titans (2-1)  had won against Concord and Independence.

Aniya Finger, a 6-foot sophomore guard, led Hopewell with 15 points. Sydni Duncan scored 10.

Carson’s girls and boys will be in action on Monday, hosting Hickory Ridge.

Carson 52, Hopewell 35

HOPEWELL (2-1)

Finger 15, Duncan 10, McManus 4, Piercy 2, Worthington 2, Chambers 2.

CARSON (1-0)

Gadson 18, Gabriel 16, Wilhelm 5, Cooper 3, C. Perry 3, Conrad 3, Isley 2, Turney 2, Wiggins, Jolly, Gamewell, Fesperman, Shumaker.

Hopewell   9   11   7   8    —  35

Carson        9   20  13  10  —  52

Jayvee girls

Carson’s jayvee girls won against Hopewell, 33-24, on Saturday.

Jaden Vaughn scored 12 for the Cougars. Zareah Smith added nine. Lindsay Conrad and Kari Hales were defensive standouts.

Kamariah Austin and Amari Owens had eight points each for the Titans.

Catawba women

Terri Rogers made her season debut with 20 points and 11 rebounds, but Catawba lost at Bowie State, 66-58, on Saturday.

The game was a homecoming for Catawba seniors Serena Brown, Marshauna Butler, Alexis Newbold and Brianna Hodges. Butler had 11 points and 15 rebounds, while Brown had 11 points and five assists.

Catawba (1-3) crushed Bowie State on the boards but shot only 32.7 percent and committed 22 turnovers. Ty-Nita Baker scored 19 for the undefeated Bulldogs.

Bowie State 66, Catawba 58

CATAWBA (1-3)

Rogers 20, Butler 11, Brown 11, Hallman 7,  Newbold 4, Hodges 4, DeShazo 1, Webb, Barnes, Stanback, Stevenson.

BOWIE ST. (3-0)

Baker 19, Alexander 14, Proctor 10, Colston 8, Chatman 7, Williams 5, Jing 3.

Catawba         10    17   17  14    —  58

Bowie St.          17  13   22  14   —   66

Catawba men

Catawba’s men’s basketball game with Montevallo in Albany, Ga., was canceled on Saturday due to the death of Montevallo player A.J. Luke.

Luke, a sophomore  from Birmingham, Ala., was a starter. He was found dead in his hotel room on Saturday morning. The cause of his death isn’t known.

LC men

Roger Ray (16), Ramel Belfield (14) and Cameron Burhannon (13) scored in double figures for Livingstone’s men’s basketball team in an 81-78 loss to Benedict in Charlotte.

LC fell to 0-2.

Benedict is 4-0. Brandon Morris scored 17 to lead the way, and Benedict put four players in double figures.

After trailing by 12 at halftime, Livingstone fought back to tie at 72-all with 1:45 remaining.

Jelani Watson-Gayle hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 1:29 remaining that put the Bulldogs ahead to stay.

Benedict 81, Livingstone 78

LIVINGSTONE (0-2)

Ray 16, Belfield 14, Burhannon 13, McNeill 9, Patterson 6, McClendon 6, N. Elmore 5, L. Elmore 4, Livingston 3,  Smith 2.

BENEDICT (4-0)

Morris 17, Watson-Gayle 14, Brown 13, Frost 11, Cook 9, Wiltshire 7, Prichard 5, Graham 3, Hooker 1, Peterson 1.

Livingstone         35    43        — 78

Benedict             47    34           — 81