By David Shaw
sports@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA — Abigail Wilson spent another night reminding us just how special a player she is.

The West Rowan sophomore matched her career-high with 30 points and added 24 rebounds in Friday’s 76-39 NPC win against East Rowan.

“We’re just trying to keep her going to the basket strong,” raspy-voiced coach Ashley Poole said after West (15-4, 4-1) earned its fifth straight win and third this week. “They tried to double-team her some, but there aren’t many teams that can guard her. We’ve been playing together for a while now. Everybody knows where she likes the ball and how she moves into position.”

It almost didn’t seem fair as Wilson routinely drove the baselines, back-pedaled through the paint and attacked the rim for well-placed layups. “The key to stopping her?” East coach Kevin Holland pondered. “I don’t know that we can. At times we did a good job fronting and backing her, but even then she’d pass it off to one of the guards for open shots.”

Wilson, the county’s leading scorer with a 22.3 points-per-game average, muscled her way for 18 second-half points. Teammate Mary Sobataka had 12 points while sophomores Gabby Blabon and Taylor Poole each contributed four assists.

East (5-14, 0-6) suffered its sixth consecutive loss. The Mustangs were paced by sophomore guard Adalie Harrison, who shot 5-for-7 from the field and netted 14 points. Holland said Harrison “shoulders a lot of responsibility” for East. He also praised post player Caroline Houpe and golf champion Carmen Fraley.

“Caroline played her best game,” he said. “And Carmen, even though basketball isn’t her game, drove to the basket and battled their big people.”

West opened a 23-5 lead in the first quarter and expanded it to 68-38 when Cindy Connolly snatched an offensive rebound and hit a layup with 3:05 remaining. “Toward the end they were a much better team and they played that way,” said Holland.

West remains tied with North Iredell for the conference lead but faces a difficult week — conference tilts at South Iredell on Tuesday, a makeup at Carson on Wednesday and a showdown at home with North Iredell next Friday. “It’ll be a big test, but that’s OK,” Poole said. “We’ll be ready.”

EAST ROWAN (39) — A.Harrison 14, Houpe 9, Mitchell 6, Fraley 3, H.Harrison 3, Winford 2, Eagle 2.

WEST ROWAN (76) — Wilson 30, Sobataka 12, Alexander 9, Connolly 7, Pharr 6, Poole 5, Vaughters 3, Robinson 3, Hairston 1, Blabon, Hoffner.

East Rowan          7   14    9    9 — 39

West Rowan       23   10   26  17 — 76