Staff report

GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan’s girls basketball team got off to a miserable start against Statesville on Friday and couldn’t fight all the way back.

Not that the Mustangs didn’t try. They cut a 16-point deficit down to five at halftime. Then they had their chances during a third quarter in which neither team could get much done.

Statesville (1-3, 1-2) got 21 points from Nakayla White-Connor and 15 from Sha’Kiya Bowman and took a 50-40 North Piedmont Conference victory.

East (1-5, 0-4) lost its fifth straight.

“We’ve basically got a brand new team with not much varsity experience,” East head coach Kevin Holland said. “I am seeing a lot of improvement, so we’ve just go to keep our heads up and keep playing.”

Down 18-2 in the early going, East chipped away. Statesville led 27-22 at halftime.

“We showed a lot of heart to fight back into it, but then both teams struggled in the third quarter,” Holland said.

With East down by five and both teams scrambling for a 50/50 ball, Statesville hustle led to third-chance points on a stickback — and there was a foul on the play.

That one hurt.

East had to put the Greyhounds on the foul line in an effort to catch up, but the Greyhounds went 8-for-10 at the stripe down the stretch,

“We played very hard, but the slow start killed us,” Holland. “We’ve got to play all four quarters.”

 

STATESVILLE (50) — White-Connor 21, Bowman 15, Tenor 9, Bailey-Scott 5, Wilson, Goodson, Owens, Slaughter, Turner, Hannah.

EAST (40) — Misenheimer 10, Peeler 9, Waddell 8, Beaver 7, McCray 4, Honeycutt 2, Whicker, Featherstone, Faavesi, Kluttz, Boardley.

Statesville    18     9    5   18    — 50

E. Rowan     8      14   4   14    — 40