East Surry rang in the new year with a 48-36 road win over Mount Airy.
Wednesday’s Cardinal win marked the ninth-consecutive victory for East Surry in the series against Mount Airy. Each of the last seven wins have come by at least 10 points.
East Surry scored first with senior Kylie Bruner scoring in the low post 39 seconds into the first quarter. The Lady Cards (5-4) only surrendered this lead once in the remaining 31:21 of game time, and Mount Airy never got within five points of East in the second half.
The Lady Bears (4-6) were forced to use different combinations of players due to various injuries this season. Junior guard Addie Phipps, the Bears leading scorer when healthy, did not suit up for Wednesday’s game. The only other player averaging double figures for Mount Airy – senior forward Grey Moore – got into early foul trouble and had to sit intermittently.
East Surry took a 7-0 lead out of the gate by forcing numerous Mount Airy turnovers. After a timeout, Sofia Stafford got the Bears on the board with a 3-pointer with 3:54 left in the quarter. Mount Airy then held East to just two points from the 4:31 mark of the first quarter to the 5:19 mark of the second quarter.
Mount Airy trailed 9-7 at the start of the second quarter, but a triple by Morgan Mayfield put the Bears in the driver’s seat for the first time. East Surry quickly retaliated in the form of a Cadence Lawson 3-pointer on the other end.
Lawson’s shot from deep started a 10-0 run for the Cardinals. Following the 3-pointer Addison Goins knocked down two jump shots and went 1-of-2 from the line, then Merry Parker Boaz scored on a fast break of an assist from Addy Sechrist. Mayfield knocked down her second 3-pointer of the quarter to end the run, but East kept on scoring.
Bella Hutchens grabbed an offensive board and put it back up for two points, then Lawson hit another 3-pointer to make it 24-13. Kylie Hollingsworth drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a single-digit game at halftime.
After shooting 4-of-10 from 3-point land in the first half, the Bears went cold and went 0-of-5 from beyond the arc in the third. East’s Rosie Craven, however, found the bottom of the net on back-to-back 3-point attempts to grow the Cardinal lead to 14.
Craven’s second triple at 6:03 made the score 32-18. Momentum began to shift to the Bears at this point, and East only scored two more points in the third quarter. Alissa Clabo scored in transition for Mount Airy, then Moore made back-to-back free throws, Stafford connected on a long 2-pointer and Mayfield went 1-of-2 at the line to close the gap to single digits.
Kate Parks put East back up by double figures early in the fourth quarter, but a Clabo layup and a Hollingsworth 3-pointer made it a 7-point game. Fast-forward to the 2:17 mark in the quarter and two free throws from Moore have cut it to a two-possession game at 40-34.
This is as close as things would get, though, as East Surry converted late free throws to hold on to the lead. Moore fouled out at 1:32 to send Lawson to the line. Lawson made the first shot and missed the second, but the Bears’ attempt at a rebound forced the ball out of bounds and back into the Cards’ hands.
Bruner recorded her fifth assist of the game as she found Boaz inside for an easy two points. An empty possession by Mount Airy led to Craven heading to the line for bonus free throws with 1:02 to play. Craven made her first shot, but the second missed the mark but was rebounded by Hutchens. Hutchens passed to Craven who was then fouled and sent back to the line to make two shots.
Mount Airy turned the ball over on its next offensive possession and Craven added two more points from the charity stripe. These back-to-back free throws were part of an 8-2 Cardinal run to end the game.
Mount Airy returns to Northwest 1A Conference competition on Friday by traveling to North Stokes (2-8). East Surry takes on an NW1A team as well, hosting South Stokes (1-7) on Friday in nonconference play.
East Surry and Mount Airy are scheduled to battle each other again in Pilot Mountain on January 19.
Scoring
ESHS – 9, 15, 10, 14 = 48
MAHS – 7, 9, 9, 11 = 36
ES: Rosie Craven 13, Cadence Lawson 13, Merry Parker Boaz 10, Addison Goins 5, Kylie Bruner 3, Bella Hutchens 2, Kate Parks 2
MA: Kylie Hollingsworth 10, Morgan Mayfield 7, Sofia Stafford 7, Alissa Clabo 6, Grey Moore 4, Addie Marshall 2
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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