Staff report

GRANITE QUARRY — Sophomore Bethany Rymer scored a game-high 27 points for South Rowan’s girls basketball team on Friday, but East Rowan still handled the Raiders, 68-51.

It would be hard to be more balanced than East was. Five Mustangs scored in double figures, with Adalie Harrison (14), Caroline Houpe (13), Grace Eagle (12), Leah Hinceman (11) and Mary Spry all producing strong games. Tall freshman Haley Dalton almost made it six Mustangs in double digits. She scored eight.

“It was a solid team effort, and Adalie was great,” East coach Kevin Holland said. “Our three seniors (Harrison, Houpe and Eagle) set the pace. We are figuring out how to work in the others.”

It’s been 16 seasons (2003-04) since East  (2-0) put five girls in double figures on the same night.

East played its best in the second quarter when it turned a 20-13 lead into a 44-19 cushion.

“If we can play whole games the way we played the second quarter, then we’re on to something,” Holland said.

Rymer kept South (0-1) in the game for as long as she could in new coach Alex Allen’s debut. Rymer had a 22-point game last season as a varsity freshman.

South lost its all-time leading scorer, Janiya Downs, so it will need a lot from Rymer, who averaged almost 10 points last season.

“Rymer gave us all kinds of trouble,” Holland said. “And, as the game went on, her confidence rubbed off on the rest of her team.”

South faced a huge deficit at halftime, but outscored East in the second half.

“We fouled too much and were thinking about the fouls more than on just playing good defense,” Holland said. “But we were better than we were in our first game. We’ll get back to work for Central Cabarrus (Tuesday).

Mackenzie Chabala, a freshman, scored nine for South Rowan.

South starts Central Carolina Conference play at East Davidson on Monday.

 

SOUTH ROWAN (51) — Rymer 27, M. Chabala 9, McGuire 5, Cherry 4, Redmon 3, Moore 2, Littlejohn 1.

EAST ROWAN (68) — Harrison 14, Houpe 13, Eagle 12, Hinceman 11, Spry 10, Dalton 8, Miller.

South       13   6  13   19   — 51

East         20  24  14  10 — 68