Staff report
MOUNT ULLA — East Rowan’s girls basketball team has been like the temperatures in February — struggling to get out of the 30s.
The Mustangs lost 65-31 to second-seeded West Rowan on Monday in a South Piedmont Conference Tournament first-round game.
East’s scorebook totals have been 37-24-31-22-31 since freshman Bristol Smith went down with a foot injury.
“We didn’t play bad at all against West,” East head coach Bri Evans said. “But we’re struggling to score the ball, especially without Bristol. We were getting better at getting the ball to her, but then she got hurt.”
West can score in bunches and overpowered seventh-seeded East for the third time. The Falcons (23-1) won the previous meetings, 65-32 and 73-39.
It’s unusual for Tiara Thompson not to lead West in scoring, but she was able to save some energy for the rest of the tournament during a 13-point night. Aubrey Martin made three 3-pointers and scored 21 points, so the Falcons didn’t need a huge game from Thompson.
Lily Kluttz scored 10 to pace East.
West advanced to a Tuesday semifinal at Carson against third-seeded Salisbury.
While East is 5-20 and has lost eight in a row, it’s still possible the Mustangs will make the expanded playoffs. They were No. 48 in 5A as of Tuesday morning, and 48 will make it.
Evans said Smith was headed for an MRI Tuesday. Physicians will be trying to determine if she has a stress fracture.
(7) East Rowan 11 4 9 7 — 31
(2) West Rowan 17 14 16 18 — 65
EAST — Kluttz 10, Lawing 6, Earnhardt 3, Miller 3, Oglesby 3, Stepp 2, Alderman 2, Hill 1, Barber 1.
WEST — A. Martin 21, Thompson 13, S. Smith 8, Hurd 6, Allen 6, Everhart 5, Hoffner 4, Pharr 2.
