From staff reports

CHINA GROVE — Carson’s third-seeded girls opened the 3A basketball playoffs successfully at home on Tuesday with a  63-46 win against Southern Guilford..

“They were athletic and tough and put quite a bit of pressure on us,” Carson coach Brooke Stouder said. “It was a pretty tough first-round game, a good test for us.”

The Cougars (25-2) got a  huge game from McKenzie Gadson (24 points, eight rebounds, four steals). The Anderson-bound senior shot 10-for-11 from the field.

“She did a great job of attacking the basket,” Stouder said. “She did exactly what we need her to do, and you can’t be much more efficient offensively than she was.”

Maci Cooper scored 21 points, all from the 3-point line. She shot 7-for-12 from long distance.

“She was feeling it,” Stouder said.

Carson got 11 points from Colbie Perry. Taylor Conrad crashed for eight rebounds, and Nancy Gamewell came off the bench to grab four.

“It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good,” Stouder said. “We got after it. We had the energy tonight that we expect to see. Everyone played hard and everyone contributed.”

Carson led 25-16 after a furious first quarter. Things settled down some after that, but the Cougars were able to stay in control.

Southern Guilford (10-14), seeded 30th, got 20 points from Ariyah Wheless. Wheless scored 10 in the first quarter.

Carson will play at home Thursday against Southwestern Randolph, which eliminated South Piedmont Conference runner-up and tournament champ Cox Mill.

  

S. GUILFORD (46) — Wheless 20, Haith 11, Hayes 7, Newkirk 6, Morgan 2.

CARSON (63) — Gadson 24, Cooper 21, Co. Perry 11, Conrad 3, Wilhelm 2, L. Isley 2, H, Isley, Hales, Gamewell.

S. Guilford 16  9  11 10  —  46

Carson       25 11  15 12   — 63

West girls

STATESVILLE — West Rowan’s girls ended the season with a 58-47 loss to North Piedmont Conference rival Statesville in the first round of the 3A state playoffs on Tuesday.

Seeded 17th, West (19-7)  got off to a good start and led after the first quarter, but foul trouble for leading scorer Abigail Wilson hampered the Falcons. She had three fouls at halftime, and Statesville (21-6) held a 24-22 lead.

Then the Greyhounds took control in the third quarter.

Wilson led West with 14 points and has topped 1,500 career points as a junior.

Senior Mary Sobataka scored 10 in her final game. Taylor Poole and Gabby Blabon scored nine each.

Tyayshia Sharpe and Danasia Gray scored 15 each for the Greyhounds.

W. ROWAN (47) — Wilson 14, Sobataka 10, Poole 9, Blabon 9, Connolly 3, Arnott 2.

STATESVILLE (58) — Sharpe 15, Gray 15, Keaton 12, McNeill 8, Bowman 6, Hoffman 2.

W. Rowan  10  12 15  10 —   47

Statesville  6    18 21  13   — 58

South girls

RUTHERFORDTON —  South Rowan senior Janiya Downs, a Catawba signee,  ended her spectacular high school career on Tuesday in the first round of the 2A state playoffs.

Seeded 22nd, South (13-13) fell to the 11th-seeded R-S Central Hilltoppers, 80-62, despite a 44-point effort by Downs.  She scored 22 in each half.

Downs finished her career with 2,374 points, second all-time in the county. As  a senior, she  broke the  modern county records for scoring average in a season (32.4) and points (842) in a season.

Bethany Rymer added 11 points for the Raiders, who were down at halftime, 32-31.

Jada Logan scored 28 to lead the Hilltoppers (17-10).

S. ROWAN (62) — Downs 44, Rymer 11, McGuire 3, P. Chabala 2, Butler 2, Littlejohn, Harrington, A. Chabala, Redmon, Shell, Moore.

R-C CENTRAL (80) — Logan 28, Gillie 18, Wilkins 10, Smith 9, Lynch 7, Searcy 5, Brock 3.

S. Rowan      13  18  17  14   — 62

R-S Central  17  15  22  26   — 80

East girls

ASHEBORO — East Rowan’s girls ended the hoops season with a 55-39 loss at Asheboro on Tuesday in the first round of the 3A state playoffs.

“Asheboro is good — you don’t luck into a 20-win season and a conference tournament championship,” East coach Kevin Holland said. “But we fought hard and we hung in there for a long time. We played right with them.”

Asheboro had an 8-0 run to close the first half and took a 26-20 halftime lead. East stayed within 10 in the third quarter before the Blue Comets finally pulled away.

The Mustangs played without Mary Spry, the freshman who led the team in rebounds and blocked shots.

Diamond McDowell and Rachel Luna led Asheboro (21-7) with 15 points each.

Adalie Harrison led East (14-13) with 14 points. Caroline Houpe scored 11.

“It was a fun group,” Holland said. “I’m proud of how far we’ve come.”

East was 5-20 last season.

E. ROWAN (39) — Harrison 14, Houpe 11, Mitchell 5, Eagle 5, Honeycutt 4.

ASHEBORO (55) — McDowell 15, Luna 15, Ellison 9, Potts 6, Hicks 5, Johnson 3, Allred 2.

E. Rowan      10 10  11  8   —  39

Asheboro      8 18  15  14   — 55

SPC girls

CONCORD — Central Cabarrus’ girls, regular season champs of the South Piedmont Conference, beat Marvin Ridge in overtime, 59-55, on Tuesday in the first round of the 3A state playoffs.

Jael Miller scored 25 for the Vikings and handed out six assists. Aniyah Tate scored 20.

North Davidson boys

WELCOME — Themus Fulks scored 48 points on Tuesday to lead 10th-seeded North Davidson. Central Carolina Conference regular-season  champs, to an 86-70 win against Atkins in the first round of the 2A state playoffs.

Sophomore Jamarien Dalton scored 21 for the Black Knights (23-5).

   

Salisbury boys

MOUNT PLEASANT — Salisbury’s boys lost on the road on Tuesday in the first round of the 2A state playoffs.

The 19th-seeded Hornets (17-9) stayed with a taller Mount Pleasant squad, but the 14th-seeded Tigers (22-5) finally pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 76-63 victory.

Salisbury was up four points in the third quarter when the Tigers had a game-turning 9-0 run.

“It was a game that was there for us to get, but Mount Pleasant played well and did a great job of using their size in the fourth quarter,” Salisbury coach Bryan Withers said.

Ryan Bonnett, a 6-foot-8 senior, scored 29 for the Tigers. He had 13 in the fourth quarter.

Zay Kesler poured in 20 for Salisbury, and Cameron Stout, who played most of the season on the jayvees, had 18. Jacquez Smith scored 11. Kevin Chawlk didn’t score a lot, but he had one of his best overall games of the season.

“We had a lot of success for a while with a small lineup, spreading the floor and putting a lot of shooters out there,” Withers said.

Salisbury battled adversity all season. The Hornets played without Raheim Walker (illness) on Tuesday.

“We never had the team we expected to have,” Withers said. “At the same time, I’ve never been prouder of a group. They had to grind for everything they got.”

SALISBURY (63) — Kesler 20, Stout 18, Smith 11, Chawlk 5, Norman 5, J. Walker 2, Gill 1.

MT. PLEASANT (76) — Bonnett 29, Sloop 11, Moore 11, Smith 11, Fernald 6, Price 3, Duke 3, Smith 2.

Salisbury        14   20  17  12   — 63

Mt. Pleasant   18  17  17  24    — 76

A.L. Brown boys

KANNAPOLIS — A.L. Brown’s 11th-seeded boys beat A.C. Reynolds, 48-44, in the first round of the 3A state playoffs on Tuesday at Bullock Gym.

The Wonders (20-7) got 19 points from Kheni Briggs, 12 from Amare Haynie and 10 from Amari Grier.

A.C. Reynolds fell to 16-11.

The Wonders will host Northwest Cabarrus on Thursday. The Trojans, seeded 27th, beat No. 6 Asheville, 65-58.

North Stanly boys

CHERRYVILLE — Bryson Childress scored 27 points in the second half and finished with 31 as North Stanly beat Cherryville, 72-58, in the first round of the 1A state playoffs on Tuesday.

North Stanly, seeded 21st, will play at  No. 5 Starmount on Thursday.

College baseball

WILSON — Catawba’s baseball team lost at Barton on Tuesday afternoon, 5-2. Jeremy Simpson had two hits for the Indians (13-4). Jackson Raper drove in a run.

Barton scored four runs in the second inning to tag Catawba starter Bryson Linkous (1-1) with the loss.

Women’s basketball

Livingstone’s Dasia Harris was named to the All-CIAA team.

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Averett senior Amani Ajayi (E. Rowan) had 10 rebounds in her final college game in the USA South tournament semifinals.

Ajayi scored 16 and made three 3-pointers in the quarterfinals.

She averaged 9.1 points (third on the team) and 8.1 rebounds (second on the team) and helped the Cougars have a great season.

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Lynchburg senior Alex Allen (Carson) finished her college career with a 10-point effort in the ODAC tournament quarterfinals.

Allen averaged 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds this season.

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Longwood’s Khaila Hall (West Rowan) had 10 points and 5 assists in Saturday’s 86-70 loss to Hampton.

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Freshman Tazah Hardin (South Rowan) averages 4.0 points and 3.7 rebounds for the 23-4 Catawba Valley Community College women’s team. She’s started 16 games.

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Tyzarea Alexander (Salisbury) averaged 9.3 points and 6.0 rebounds for  Methodist this season.

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Aliyah Farmer (North Rowan) averages 8.2 points and 4.5 rebounds for UNC Pembroke.

Avery Locklear was honored on UNCP’s Senior Day on Saturday. Locklear averages 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds and has started 23 of UNCP’s 26 games this season.

UNCP has two games left in the regular season.

Men’s basketball

Livingstone guard Roger Ray was named to the All-CIAA team.

HS football

Salisbury defensive back/returner Cameron Gill was named to the West squad for this summer’s East-West All-Star Game.