From staff reports

SPENCER — West Rowan’s girls basketball team did it again on Wednesday.

The undefeated Falcons (6-0) had no trouble with an undermanned North Rowan squad, romping 67-27.

De’Mya Phifer and Lauren Arnold scored 14 points each. Emma Clarke scored 12, and Tiara Thompson had 11.

West led 42-21 at the half and North (3-2) scored only six in the second half.

Bailee Goodlett scored 22 for the Cavaliers.

West     22    20  18  7  — 67

North   10    11   2   4  — 27

West  — Phifer 14, Arnold 14, Clarke 12, Thompson 11, Huntley 9, Tenor 4, Cuthbertson 3

North — Bailee Goodlett 22, Stoner 3, King 1, Wilson 1.

West boys win

SPENCER — The first win for West Rowan head  basketball coach Dadrian Cuthbertson finally came and it happened in a big way.

The Falcons pounded North Rowan 77-46 on the road.

Athan Gill scored a career-high 26 points for the Falcons (1-5). Will Givens scored 18. He hit three of his four 3-pointers  during  the Falcons’ big second quarter.

Adrian Stockton helped out with a career-best 14.

Jayden Polk scored 15, but was the only player in double digits for the Cavaliers (2-3).

West  14  24 15 24 — 77

North 9   14  17  6  — 46

West — Gill 26, Givens 18, Stockton 14, Graham 8, Hairston 5, Martin 3, Norman 3.

North — Polk 15, Charleston 8, Maxwell 7, McArthur 5, Morrow 4, O’Kelly 3, Tarver 2, Alford 2

Wonders top SR boys

KANNAPOLIS — Naz Reaves scored 29 points and had a huge run in a decisive second quarter as A.L. Brown’s boys beat South Rowan 59-44 in a non-conference game.

It was the first win for the Wonders (1-3).

Dalton Young scored 17 for the Raiders (1-5), while Bronson Hunt had 10.

“Just missed a lot of open shots — left a whole lot of points out there,” South coach Daniel Blevins.

The positive was that South was able to bounce back with a competitive effort 24 hours after losing by 81 to Central Cabarrus

.

South 11   7   15   11  — 44

ALB     10  20  21   8  — 59

South — Young 17, Hunt 10, Jones 7, Anderson 6, Blackwell 2, Carey 2.

South girls fall

KANNAPOLIS — A.L. Brown’s girls improved to 4-0 with a 44-28 win against South Rowan on Wednesday.

Ayanni Floyd led the Wonders (4-0) with 13 points, while R’mani Bradley had eight.

Madilyn Cherry made three 3-pointers and scored 15 for South (2-4). Ari Alston had eight.

South trailed 32-9 at halftime, but Cherry and Alston sparked a third-quarter run by the Raiders. South got as close as 35-21, but the Wonders pulled away again with six straight points.

“We’ve just to find more consistency,” South coach Alex Allen said.

Only three Raiders scored.

South            6      3   12    7  — 28

A.L. Brown 16    10   9     9  — 44

South scoring — Cherry 15, Alston 8, Dextraze 5

Catawba women

HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Catawba’s women’s basketball team won 70-55 at Coker in Wednesday’s South Atlantic Conference action.

Lyrik Thorne scored 21 for the Indians.

Catawba (8-1, 2-0) wasn’t great on offense — 35.2-percent shooting from the field, a cold night from 3  and 21 turnovers — but the Indians had 16 steals and forced the Cobras (3-4, 0-2) into 31 turnovers.

Catawba  12  17   22   19 — 70

Coker       17    6   15    17 — 55

Catawba scoring — Thorne 21, Baker 9, Ford 8, McIntosh 8, Downs 6, Porter 6, Wampler 5,  Spry 4, Dubose 3.

Catawba men

HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Catawba’s men’s basketball team  shot 52 percent, overcame 18 turnover and survived 74-71 at Coker in South Atlantic Conference action on Wednesday night.

Catawba (5-3) got some clutch free throws late from Kris Robinson and a key steal from Javeon Jones.

Adrian Scarborough pumped in 20 points to lead the Indians. Dre Nelson scored 12.

Catawba  33  41  — 74

Coker       29   42  — 71

Catawba scoring —  Scarborough 20, Nelson 12, Gerald 9, Jones 9, Robinson 8, Tinsley 6, Ethridge 5, Kowalski 5.

College basketball

Jailen Williams (Carson) had 12 points, 12 rebounds, six assists (with no turnovers) and three steals in Claflin’s 86-84 win against Paine.

SPC changes

Robinson was one of 18 schools to make a “mid-alignment” appeal to change classifications and will be moving from 2A to 3A next fall.

Robinson will become a member of the South Piedmont Conference and will  make it a stronger football league. They were 10-2 this  year, including a strong win against Carson.

The addition of Robinson will give the league nine schools for most sports but eight for football, as Lake Norman Charter does not compete in SPC football.

Adding Robinson to the schedule has triggered a number of football schedule changes.

West Rowan is adding A.L. Brown for 2023-24 in addition to Robinson and has dropped North Rowan and Salisbury. West Rowan will continue to play non-conference games with Davie and Mooresville.

South Rowan also has dropped North Rowan.

North Rowan had added Forest Hills to replace one of those games.

HS baseball

East Rowan third baseman Blake Hill has committed to Catawba.

Hill enjoyed a sensational summer for Rowan County American Legion. He led the team with 45 RBIs and 15 doubles and hit three homers.

HS wrestling

Carson won against Alexander Central (33-32) and Statesville (60-15) on Tuesday.

  Joseph Little, Gabe Flaminio, Griffin Barber, Elijah Morgan and Cole Kirkpatrick went 2-0 for the Cougars.

RAC Swimming

Luke Nebrich, a West Davidson junior who trains with Rowan Aquatic Club at the J.F. Hurley Family YMCA, swam a 51.47 100 butterfly in the  recent YMCA Championship meet that included swimmers from the eastern United States.

That was a PR for Nebrich and a RAC team record.

  Nebrich won the 50 freestyle in 20:32, a meet record. He earned the 12th seed for the 19U USA Winter Junior National Championship

Nebrich also won the 100 free, clocking a PR and RAC record 44.67 seconds to qualify for the Junior National Championship.

The USA National Winter Junior Championship swim meet is being held at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

The 50-yard freestyle is today and the 100 is on Saturday. While a YMCA National meet qualifier since 2021, this is the first time Nebrich will participate at the USA National Championship level.

•••

  Salisbury swimmers who qualified to race at the Capital Classic YMCA Championship meet were Camden Miller, Chris Kafitz, Riley Gleason, Isabella McGee, Isaac Cawley and Patterson Herlocker.

    

Salisbury Academy 

The Salisbury Academy varsity girls basketball team defeated North Hills 38-14.

Leading scorers for Salisbury Academy were Anna Kate Goodman  (14), Audrey Faggart  (10) and Brooke Zino (6).

•••

  The Salisbury Academy varsity boys basketball team rolled past North Hills 48-17 with smothering defense and great passing.

Leading scorers for the Jaguars were Nolt Lescoe and Isaiah Foxx with 17 points each.  AJ Jarrell scored six.

Local golf

GARS members played   handicapped  Captain’s Choice Tournament at Corbin Hills.

First place with a minus-20  was the team of Scott Hay, John Goodman, Ken Safrit and Jerry Teter.

Three teams tied for second at minus-19.

Using a scorecard playoff, the team of Thomas Dodge, John Mitchell, Ray Pope and Chuck Jones took second place.

In third place was the team of Steve Butner, Steve Kale, Dickie Peeler and Tommy Seamon.

Fourth was the team of Larry Perrell, Ted Weant, Jim Brown and Hal Stover.

Closest to the pin was won by Peeler. Longest putt was made by Lynn Shook.

The team of Dan Newell, Jesse King, Mike Sides and Mike Whitaker eagled the par-5 No. 18 hole, while the team of  Larry Petrea, Wayne Bost and Tony Labarbera eagled the par-4 10th hole.

North Hills

North Hills recognized fall sports athletes.

Varsity volleyball was recognized as Southern Piedmont Athletic Association champions.

Carson Simmerson was all-conference and NCISAA All-State.

Ava Sutton was all-conference.

Kaydence McDaniel won the conference’s  Christian Character Award

Soccer player Kane Talbot was the Christian Character Award winner for the conference.

Cross country runner Emily Teague won the conference’s  Christian Character Award.