Lady Bears capture much needed win over North Stanly

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BEAR CREEK — Looking to snap a three-game losing skid, Chatham Central got back on the winning track with an impressive performance Friday night against a cold-shooting North Stanly team.

Outscoring the Lady Comets every quarter while placing all 11 players in the scoring column, the Lady Bears coasted to an easy 56-26 Yadkin Valley 1A Conference victory over the visitors from New London in Gerald L. Binkley Gymnasium.

The lopsided triumph elevated Chatham Central to 3-3 in the league standings and 5-9 overall, while North Stanly slumped to 4-3 in the conference and 4-7 for the season.

Danielle Vaughn led the way for the winners with 17 points, including four three-pointers, and Mary Grace Murchison added 11 as the Lady Bears connected on 22-of-56 (39 percent) of their field goal attempts and commanded a 40-34 advantage on the glass while turning the ball over 17 times.

Nyleiah White topped the Lady Comets with eight points as North Stanly shot a frigid nine-of-52 (17 percent) from the floor and just six-of-24 (25 percent) from the charity stripe while committing 19 turnovers.

“We played a complete game tonight,” said Chatham Central coach Lynda Burke. “Moving the ball offensively has been a point of emphasis in practice, and this evening we passed well and took really good shots while being aggressive and looking for each other to score.

“Defensively,” Burke said, “we played a good 2-3 zone and boxed out well around the boards. We didn’t stop North Stanly’s penetration at the outset, but then we stepped up and closed the hole to take away their inside game and they never recovered.”

Lady Comets’ coach Greg Speight was unavailable for comments afterwards.

Following Paris Bennett’s layup in the first 33 seconds of play that gave North Stanly its only lead, Murchison’s trey from behind the top of the key at the 7:02 mark of the first period put the Lady Bears in front to stay and the rout was on.

After expanding its advantage to 12-7 by the end of the initial stanza, Chatham Central opened the second period with a string of seven unanswered points, climaxed by Kailey Green’s fast break layup with 3:57 left in the quarter, to fashion a 12-point lead before Murchison’s lane jumper with 21 seconds to go in the half increased the margin to 25-11 at intermission.

With Vaughn draining a trio of three-pointers in the third period, the Lady Bears continued to stretch their advantage over the course of the frame and went up 40-15 following Savannah Stilwell’s jumper off the left baseline with 1:27 remaining in the stanza prior to carrying a 42-18 advantage into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Comets could never edge closer than 21 over the last eight minutes while being outscored 14-8 by Chatham Central’s reserves. Sophie Phillips’ layup with 14 seconds to go in the contest resulted in the final spread while giving the Lady Bears their biggest lead of the night.