Cowgirls run down Knights

Thu. February 23, 2012 at 12:06 a.m. | By Jason Queen

HIGH POINT | Unlike Monday’s trip to Richmond Senior, the North Davidson girls didn’t get lost on their way to Southwest Guilford on Wednesday.

The Knights had no such luck finding the magic that produced that first-round upset.

Zena Lovette scored 17 of her game-high 25 points in the first half as the defending state champions cruised to a 61-41 victory over North at James C. Coggins Gymnasium in the second round of the 4-A playoffs. North saw its season come to an end at 10-18.

Up 10-7 midway through the first quarter, the Cowgirls scored 10 straight points to build a working margin, and the Knights never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.

After Monday’s shocker at Richmond Senior, North coach Kendra Puckett acknowledged the affect Southwest’s pressure defense had on her team. “They put a lot of pressure on us, and that’s been one of our challenges this year,” Puckett said. “I thought we did a really good job against the 1-3-1, they finally pulled out of that.

“We just had a hard time finding the open person, and we had open people. We just couldn’t find them.”

That has become a trademark at Southwest, and that carried the Cowgirls to the state title a year ago and will be their calling card throughout the playoffs. “That’s one of our strengths,” Southwest coach Jessica Bryan said. “I’m very fortunate to have very athletic guards, so we’ve always worked on having intensity on defense.”

North fought its way through the Cowgirls’ pressure early on, and Ivy Kiker drove to the basket to get the Knights within 10-7. But Briana Burgins was fouled and hit both of her free throws at the other end, and the Cowgirls kicked it into another gear. Lovette hit Ayana Rivers in the lane for an easy bucket, then Lovette hit a runner in the lane in transition. She fed Rivers in the post for another easy score off dribble penetration and Southwest was in control with an 18-7 lead after one quarter.

The Cowgirls finished the half on a 9-2 spurt, highlighted by a 3-pointer and a fast-break layin from Burgins sandwiched in between Lovette’s pullup jumper in the lane and two free throws.

Jessica Pone, who, like Lovette, is committed to play at Campbell, added 15 points for the Cowgirls. Southwest, now 24-4, travels to Porter Ridge on Friday.

Samantha Honeycutt paced the Knights with 15 points, and Sydney Bryan added 12 and Kiker 10.

Jason Queen can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 220 or jason.queen@the-dispatch.com.