Jeff Linville | The News
East Surry’s Keri Fulp draws a foul on North Surry’s Malaya Johnson. In a matchup of all-conference centers, it was their teammates who stepped up often in North’s 37-35 win.
Jeff Linville | The News
North Surry celebrated Senior Night for its seven basketball players and three cheerleaders, from left, Joseph Stewart, Savannah Parker and Karen Romero.
The Lady Cardinals led by eight points to start the fourth quarter, but the Lady Greyhounds came back to win 37-35 on Senior Night.
North Surry seniors Kristina Rumplasch and Maddison Hawks scored seven points to bring their team to within 35-33.
Then Hawks’ younger sister scored on a fast break and two foul shots in the final minute and a half to give the Hounds the win.
East Surry’s Gabi Jessup got the Cards off to a good start with two three-pointers in an 8-2 spurt. The Cards led 10-7 after one.
North’s Malaya Johnson and Erin March scored inside to give the Hounds the lead at 11-10.
Kacie Markle then scored and drew a foul. She missed the foul shot, but after a miss by a teammate she retrieved the ball and scored again for four points on the same possession.
That gave East Surry a 14-11 lead, which they would maintain until the final minute.
The home crowd grew restless as East Surry shot 11 free throws before North went to the line the first time.
The crowd gave the officials plenty of grief in the second half. At one point, play was stopped and a warning was issued to the crowd. The announcer said something was thrown at the referees, and any further trouble would get fans removed from the gym.
The game could have been billed as a marquee matchup between all-conference centers Johnson and Keri Fulp. However, at the half, Johnson had just three points and Fulp was scoreless as East led 21-15.
Rumplasch scored twice at the start of the third quarter, but Jessup and Fulp answered with scores as the lead reached double digits for the only time in the game at 30-20.
The Cards were quicker to every loose ball. On one possession at the end of the quater, Johnson blocked a shot, but East recovered. Johnson blocked another shot and then tipped away a pass, but each time the Cards reacted faster.
The lead was 31-23 to start the final period.
Rumplasch scored, then Johnson converted a three-point play for a 31-28 score with 4:30 left.
March got a good look on a three-pointer to tie, but missed.
East’s Laken Bowman made two foul shots to push the lead to five with 3:11 left.
Rumplasch scored on a baseline drive to make it 33-30.
The home crowd roared when the Hounds were called for a turnover with 2:41 left.
East Surry attempted to take a charge on Johnson, but didn’t get in front of her in time. The defender fell to the floor in front of Johnson, causing her to stumble on her drive to the hoop. The officials called her for traveling.
Then just 30 seconds later, Rumplasch was called for a foul as she poked the ball away from Lauren Thompson. After the whistle, Thompson threw her elbow back behind her blindly and nearly struck Rumplasch in the face, but no technical was called.
Thompson missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2:10 left, but teammate Sydney Mosley would get fouled with 1:47 left and make both for a 35-30 lead.
Just 10 seconds later, Maddison Hawks hit her only three-pointer of the game to cut it to 35-33 as Coach Shane Slate called a timeout.
East Surry was passing the ball around the perimeter when Morgan Hawks intercepted a pass and raced down the floor for a layup to tie the game with 1:10 left.
With 45 seconds left, East Surry was called for walking. North Surry ran its offense for a few passes, but Slate didn’t like what he saw and called a timeout with 24.6 seconds left.
Morgan Hawks was trying to dribble around a defender with 11.6 seconds left when the officials called East Surry with a foul. Some visiting fans were calling for a hook by Hawks, but the sophomore stepped to the line and sank both for a two-point lead.
In the final five seconds, Markle had a three-point look to take the lead, but missed. East got the ball back and tried a bank shot before the buzzer, but missed.
Rumplasch led all scorers with 17 points. Johnson scored seven, Maddison Hawks five, Morgan Hawks and March four each.
For East Surry, Mosley led with 10 points. Jessup had all seven points in the first half, and Fulp scored her six points in the second half.
Markle scored five points, all in the second quarter. Bowman scored four and Thompson one.
The Hounds finished their regular season at 15-1 and first place in the Northwest Conference.
East Surry fell to 10-5 with one game left. The Cards will have Senior Night Friday against Mount Airy.
Reach Jeff Linville at jlinville@civitasmedia.com or at 719-1920.
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