From staff  and wire reports

STATESVILLE — Swarming double teams limited West Rowan’s high-scoring Abigail Wilson to a season-low eight points, but her teammates picked her up.

West’s girls won at Statesville, 54-51, on Thursday to secure third place in the North Piedmont Conference.

“We won in a tough environment,” West coach Ashley Poole said. “They had the band playing loud, and we had to make a comeback.”

Egpyt Alexander and Cindy Connolly scored 12 points apiece, while Mary Sobataka had nine, Shyann Vaughters seven and Chantal Robinson five for the Falcons (18-6, 7-3).

“We didn’t rebound very well and we missed too many free throws” Poole said. “But the big thing is we got out of there with the win.”

Tyasia Sharpe scored 11 and Danasia Gray had 10 for the fourth-place Greyhounds (14-9, 5-5).

West’s boys (12-12, 5-5) lost to Statesville, 60-42, and finished fourth in the NPC.

WEST ROWAN  (54) — Alexander 12, Connolly 12, Sobataka 9, Wilson 8, Vaughters 7, Robinson 5, Pool, Blabon, Pharr.

W. Rowan    14   9   16   15 —54

Statesville   6  15    17  13 —51

East boys

OLIN — Defense keyed a 56-36 North Piedmont Conference road win for East Rowan on Thursday.

Bryson Sprinkle scored 16, Gabe Hinceman had 11,  and freshman David Jordan scored 10 for the Mustangs (9-15, 2-8).

“Overall, a great team win,” East coach Kurt Misenheimer said. “Our guards played really well.  Jordan had his best game of the season, and we’re expecting great things from him in the future.”

Blake Barzee led the Raiders (4-20, 0-10) with 11 points.

EAST (56) — Sprinkle 16, Hinceman 11, Jordan 10, Jefferson 6, Hooper 4, Scruggs 4, Smith 2, Fowler 2, Walker 1.

N. IREDELL (36) — Barzee 11, Highman 9, Wilcox 6, Ross 4, Tuggle 3, Ward 2, Williams 1.

E. Rowan 12  14  16  14 — 56

N.Iredell   6     8   15  17 — 36

  

East girls

OLIN — East Rowan’s girls couldn’t find a way to stop North Iredell’s London Liles on Thursday.

Liles scored 13 in the first quarter as North Iredell  (20-4, 8-2) tied for first with Carson and wrapped up the No. 1 seed for the North Piedmont Conference tournament.

“We played well and had a strong second quarter,” East Rowan coach Kevin Holland said. “But we couldn’t get those same shots to fall in the third quarter. Caroline Houpe shot well early. Grace Eagle had her best game since coming back from injury.”

East (5-19, 0-10) was down 25-15 at halftime, but then the Raiders pulled away in the third quarter.

EAST ROWAN  (29) — Houpe 9, Eagle 8, A. Harrison 6, H. Harrison 2, Mitchell 2, Fraley 2, Winford.

N. IREDELL (51) — Liles 25, Lalonde 14,  Turner 4, Grinton 2, Goodin 2, Pennell 2, Wishon 2.

E. Rowan    5   10   6   8 —    29

N. Iredell   15  10  15  11 — 51

Women’s basketball

UNC Pembroke’s Aliyah Farmer (North Rowan) had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists in Wednesday’s 76-70 loss to Augusta.

Overseas basketball

Keshun Sherrill (West Rowan) is averaging 16.3 points and 4.0 assists in pro basketball in the Netherlands.

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K.J. Sherrill (West Rowan) is averaging 14.6 points and 8.3 rebounds in Germany.

Middle schools

Erwin defeated China Grove 40-18.  Erwin was led by Icesis Nwafor who had 20 points and Anasty Faavesi with 12.

China Grove was led by Kassidy Sechler  with seven points.

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West Rowan defeated Erwin, 38-15.

Lauren Arnold scored 19 for the Bulldogs. Ashlee Ennis scored nine.

Erwin was led by Peyton Whicker with 10 points.

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Mooresville’s boys beat Knox 58-46.

Jayden “Juke” Harris scored 13 for the Trojans. Jy’Mikaah Wells scored 12. Christopher Toomer Jr. had nine.

Local golf

The GARS members played a Captains Choice at Corbin Hills.

The first-place team with a minus-9 was Ray Pope, Phil Cauble, and Steve Kale.

First place handicap was won by the team of Allen Hammill, John Goodman, Tommy Lambert, and Lynn Shook.

Longest putt on No. 9  was made by Andy Griffin.

Sacred Heart hoops

Sacred Heart’s jayvee girls defeated Summit School, 21-19.

Izzy Banish led the Dolphins with 17 points.

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Sacred Heart’s  jayvee boys lost to Summit School, 42-36.

Kaiden Dulkoski had 12 points and 15 rebounds.  Soyer Cornelison had  nine points and eight rebounds.  Nick Loeblein had eight points.

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Sacred Heart’s jayvee girls won in overtime, 14-10, against Our Lady of Mercy.

Banish had  eight points.

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Sacred Heart’s varsity girls  defeated OLM  43-30.  Rachel McCullough led the Dolphins with 19 points.  Sutton Webb had 12, and Gianna Patella had eight.

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Sacred Heart’s  varsity boys defeated OLM, 57-27.

Jalon Walker had 27 points, Nick Antosek scored 11 and Ben Childress  had 10.

Clemson romps

CLEMSON, S.C.  — Gabe DeVoe  matched his career high with 25 points, helping No. 16 Clemson beat Pittsburgh 72-48 on Thursday night.

DeVoe was 7 for 11 from 3-point range. The senior is shooting 65 percent (22 of 34) from behind the arc during the Tigers’ four-game win streak.

DeVoe has led Clemson in scoring in four of five games since the Tigers lost forward Donte Grantham to a knee injury.

Shelton Mitchell made three 3s on his way to 12 points, and Elijah Thomas had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Tigers (20-4, 9-3 Atlantic Coast Conference).

Clemson led 32-22 at halftime and then put Pitt away with an impressive stretch on offense. The Tigers scored on nine of their first 10 second-half possessions.

Cardinals roll

LOUISVILLE, Ky.  —   Jordan Nwora had 16 points and five of Louisville’s 12 3-pointers, Anas Mahmoud added 12 points and Louisville added solid defense to rout the Yellow Jackets 77-54 Thursday night and end a losing streak that dropped the Cardinals into the middle of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Playing their third game in six days and without leading scorer Deng Adel (ankle injury), the Cardinals got contributions from just about everybody in breaking their slide. A 13-1 run over 3:50 in the first half provided a 24-8 lead and the advantage reached 24 with 4:40 remaining.

Louisville (17-8, 7-5 ACC) finished 27 of 54 from the field  and 12 of 20 from behind the arc. The Cardinals also forced 20 turnovers for 21 points and dominated bench scoring 38-8.

Ray Spalding and Malik Williams each added 11 points as the Cardinals regulars provided balanced scoring and had 18 assists against just 10 turnovers.