North Surry girls stay unbeaten with road win

DOBSON — For the past couple of seasons, North Surry’s girls basketball team has been the hunter in its conference, chasing foes like Ashe County, Mount Airy and Bishop McGuinness.

But as the calendar moves toward Christmas break, the Greyhounds found themselves still unbeaten and on top of the Northwest 1A/2A standings — learning what it means again to be the hunted.

North Surry fended off a worthy challenger Monday night at Surry Central, nearly doubling the Golden Eagles’ point production in the second half for a 62-45 triumph.

Four players reached double figures in scoring, lead by Morgan Midkiff’s 10 points, helping the ’Hounds improve to 7-0 on the season and 5-0 in conference play. Surry Central, which led by as many as seven points in the first half, dropped to 5-5, 3-3 in the Northwest.

“We’re in first place and this kind of scared me. How are we going to respond?” North Surry coach Shane Slate said. “We were climbing up hill all last year. I thought we took things for granted early on (Monday) but we turned things around. It was a hard-fought game.”

Surry Central forced the issue in the early going, and that helped the Golden Eagles mount a 14-13 lead after one quarter. Guard Maddie White had nine of Central’s points, hitting three baskets and swishing three of four free throw attempts.

The Eagles went on a 6-0 run to start the second period, getting a White layup, two free throws from Marylyle Brozina and a putback from Sarah Bruce in the first two and a half minutes.

But North Surry answered with a vengeance. With a determination to take the ball to the rim on every possession, the Greyhounds engineered a 17-4 surge to pull ahead 30-24. Of the six field goals made during this stretch, five came from within five feet. The other was a three-pointer from Midkiff. The rest of the points came from the free throw line, with fouls drawn by yet more strong moves to the basket.

“We attacked their trap better,” Slate said. “When we were in transition we were playing our best ball.”

Surry Central stayed within five points at halftime (35-30), but North Surry held the Golden Eagles to just three points in the third period. White, who had scored 12 points at the break, didn’t record a field goal in the second half, making her only two free-throw attempts.

Cassidy Joyner, who also had 12 points at intermission (six of eight from the line), didn’t get on the board in the third period. Joyner got hot again in the fourth, though, scoring eight points to finish with 20 for the game.

Kristina Rumplasch scored 12 points for North Surry, Emily Culler and Nicole Rumplasch added 10 points apiece.

Both teams will have to bounce back quickly for road games Tuesday. North Surry will visit South Stokes, while Surry Central will visit West Stokes.

North Surry 62, Surry Central 45

Monday * at Dobson

North Surry    13    22    15    12 — 62
Surry Central    14    16    3    12    – 45

NORTH SURRY: Emily Culler 10, Morgan Midkiff 20, Morgan Bunker 5, Adrianne Puckett 3, Kristina Rumplasch 12, Nicole Rumplasch 10, Malaya Johnson 2.
SURRY CENTRAL: Cassidy Joyner 20, Maddie White 14, Courtney Hegler 2, Jennifer Coe 3, Marylyle Brozina 2, Sarah Bruce 2, Brittany Myers 2.

Three-pointers: North Surry — Morgan Midkiff 2, Emily Culler 1. Surry Central — none.
Free throws: North Surry 13-23; Surry Central 19-28.

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