From staff reports

Friday’s girls roundup …

LANDIS — Free throws.

Every basketball coach spends time trying to figure out how to shoot more of them and make more of them.

South Rowan used them to beat East Rowan 43-40 on Friday. It was a big win for the Raiders and a damaging loss in the South Piedmont Conference standings for the Mustangs.

“Solid team win for us,” South coach Alex Allen said. “Worked hard and gave it our all. We had good focus on defense and got stops. We got good looks on offense.”

It wasn’t rocket science. It was free throws.

South shot 20-for-24 on foul shots, a percentage NBA teams would be thrilled with. That included 9-for-11 with the pressure on in the fourth quarter.

East shot 10-for-24 from the foul line, making half as many free points as South in the same number of opportunities.

“Just didn’t play well and didn’t make free throws,” East coach Bri Evans said.

East (8-7, 4-2) has a considerably better record than South (5-9, 2-4) and owns SPC victories over Lake Norman Charter and Northwest Cabarrus, two teams that beat South handily.

South was wiped out 60-24 by Lake Norman Charter on Tuesday, so this was quite a bounce-back effort.

South matches up well with the Mustangs and lost a 49-48 game to East in the Christmas tournament. East is also playing short-handed without Mary Church and Lindsey Cook. They combined for 24 points in East’s win against the Raiders in the Christmas tournament.

South got off to a confident start in the rematch and led 13-4 after a quarter.

Hannah Waddell, who made five 3-pointers and scored 19 points, shot the Mustangs back into the game.

Madilyn Cherry scored 21 points for the Raiders to equal her career high. She made South’s only 3-pointer and went 8-for-10 on free throws.

Ari Alston and Kynlee Dextraze scored 10 each for South. They were automatic at the foul line, with Alston going 4-for-4 and Dextraze 6-for-6.

East    4     13     12    11   — 40

South  13   10     7     13    — 43

East — Waddell 19, L. Kluttz 7, Collins 6, Whicker 4, Plott 2, M. Kluttz 2.

South — Cherry 21, Dextraze 10, Alston 10, Atwell 2.

•••

MOUNT ULLA — West Rowan’s girls easily took care of Concord in an uneven matchup of the SPC’s best and worst teams.

The Falcons romped 74-12. over the Spiders (2-14, 0-7).

The Falcons led 47-10 at the half and reached a 40-point lead for a running clock early in the third quarter.

West (13-0, 6-0) has scored in the 70s nine times this season and hasn’t allowed more than 47 in a game. The Falcons have held four opponents under 15 points.

Lauren Arnold scored a season-high 21. She had 13 in the second quarter.

Emma Clarke scored 11. The junior, who excels in three sports for the Falcons, scored her 500th point.

Mya Edwards added 10, Sarah Durham and Makaylah Tenor had eight each, and Tiara Thompson scored seven.

West is No. 1 in the 3A West RPI rankings. West fares better in strength of schedule than you might think, as some teams West has clobbered (North Rowan, North Iredell, Davie) have good won-lost records.

Concord   5    5    2    0   — 12

West      23     24   10  17  — 74

West — Arnold 21, Clarke 11, Edwards 10, Tenor 8, Durham 8, Thompson 7, Clawson 5, Huntley 4.

•••

CHINA GROVE — Carson lost 63-36 to Central Cabarrus, one of the teams fighting for second place in the South Piedmont Conference.

The Vikings (10-6, 5-2) closed the first half with a run to take a 24-9 lead and pounded the Cougars in the third quarter.

Carson (2-14, 1-6) has reached 40 points only twice this season and had another low-scoring night. The Cougars finally made some shots in the fourth quarter, but it was too late.

Julia Burleson made two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. She and Rebekah McCubbins led the Cougars with six points.

The Vikings held Allie Martin, who scored 26 on Wednesday, to five points.

Kyra Lewis had 12 points and seven rebounds, while Taylor Smith had 10 points and seven assists for the Vikings.

Central Cabarrus   9    15     25   12  — 61

Carson                      4     5      4   23   — 36

Carson — McCubbins 6, Burleson 6, Martin 5, Carpenter 5, Steele 5, Benfield 4, Locklear 3. McBride 2.

•••

Northwest Cabarrus (9-5, 5-2) won 47-43 in overtime at Lake Norman Charter (9-6, 3-4).