By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

MOUNT ULLA —  A Senior Night with no seniors.

That’s how young West Rowan’s girls basketball team is.

West was shaky, at times, on Friday but pulled out an exciting 56-54 North Piedmont Conference win against Statesville.

West was down 44-39 going to the fourth quarter, but finished strong.

“We played like a bunch of young kids for a while,” West coach Ashley Poole said. “We got down 14 and had to claw our way back into it. But we kept plugging away.”

Freshman Lauren Arnold scored 21 for the Falcons (9-3, 7-3) to equal her career high.

Arnold’s three-point play with 21 seconds left keyed the victory.

DeDe Cuthbertson had her best game of the season with 10 points. Mya Edwards scored nine, while Emma Clarke had seven.

Statesville (3-8, 3-7) got double-digit scoring from Taylor Wilson (14), Nakayla White-Connor (14) and Kaneycha Turner (12).

“They’re athletic,” Poole said. “We had two tough games with them.”

West won 49-46 at Statesville.

West finished second in the NPC behind Carson, but only one NPC team is guaranteed a playoff spot with this season’s reduced field.

 

STATESVILLE (54) – Wilson 14, White-Connor 14, Turner 12, Bailey-Scott 6, Bowman 6, Owens 2.

W. ROWAN (56) — Arnold 21, Cuthbertson 10, Edwards 9, Clarke 7, Phifer 5, Tenor 4, Durham.

Statesville    9   15   20   10  — 54

W. Rowan   10  15  14  17   — 56