Staff report

STATESVILLE —  While Carson appears to be head and shoulders above the rest of the girls basketball teams in the North Piedmont Conference, there are still exciting games taking place in the fight for second place.

West Rowan racked up a key victory in that struggle on Tuesday, getting a 49-46 win in the Statesville gym, where it’s rarely easy for Rowan schools to prevail.

Statesville (1-4, 1-3) had good players back that it hasn’t had in some of its earlier games, and the Falcons (5-1, 3-1) had to battle all the way.

With the Falcons leading by one point with four seconds left, Makaylah Tenor stepped to the foul line and made two clutch free throws.

West led 22-19 at halftime thanks to eight points from Dreamah Mason and took a six-point lead to the fourth quarter.

The Falcons got double-figure scoring from Mya Edwards (14 points), Mason (12) and De’Mya Phifer (10).

Phifer had a huge number of steals, but some struggles at the free-throw line prevented her from having a monster night.

Emma Clarke only scored five points, but was big on the boards. Lauren Arnold only scored three points, but she made some key plays, including a great pass to Edwards for a critical layup. Edwards scored six in the fourth quarter, including 2-for-2 at the foul line.

Tenor, Edwards, Phifer, Clarke and Arnold are all freshmen.

Kaneycha Turner led the Greyhounds with 11 points.

WEST (49) — Edwards 14, Mason 12, Phifer 10, Clarke 5, Tenor 4, Arnold 3, Cuthbertson 1, Durham.

STATESVILLE (46) —  Turner 11, Wilson 10, White-Connor 10, Bowman 6, Bailey-Scott 7, Owens 1, Slaughter 1.

W. Rowan     11    11   15   12   — 49

Statesville     8     11   12   15    — 46