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By Brian Pitts
Enterprise Record

Avarie Martin snatched a rebound and scored while getting fouled. Bailey Aderhold drilled an 18-footer. Makenzie Gentry forced a turnover that Martin turned into a breakaway layup.
The Davie varsity girls basketball team was off to a great start and leading Alexander Central 7-0 in the opening stages of a home nonconference game on Dec. 17.
Complications ensued.
The Cougars roared to 62-47 victory in ridiculous fashion. After failing to score in the first three and a half minutes, they made it 7-7 in a span of 41 seconds and went on a 23-3 run to grab a 23-10 lead. Yikes.
The traditional power improved its season record to 6-2 and its four-year record to 71-22. The War Eagles, who were off to their best start in 10 years, stumbled to 5-3.
“We’re learning,” coach Lindsey Adams said. “We’re still young, so we’re learning how to handle the highs and the lows. We had a really good week last week, beating Reagan and the East Forsyth, so I was trying to lock them back in mentally for a nonconference game.
“They were a less skilled team than us, but they were more disciplined and experienced. We relied on our defense and transition the last three or four games. When that did not happen for us today, we needed to adjust and score in a halfcourt set.”
Davie trailed 31-16 at halftime. Martin was the only reason the margin wasn’t much worse. In the first half, she had 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting; the rest of the War Eagles missed 15 of 17 shots.
Davie shot very well in the second half, hitting 11 of 22 field goals and banging 5 of 7 3-point tries. But it still trailed 49-35 at the end of the third and never got back into the game because it was trading buckets. Central hit 13 of 25 in the second half.
Davie was burned by 5-11 junior Meredith Wike, who rolled up 27 points.
“She’s good,” Adams said. “She’s a silent assassin. She is averaging 20 points a game, but I don’t think she has a huge recruiting radar. She’s not on a big AAU team, so she stays under the radar. She is hard to defend.”
Martin played big in defeat, finishing with 22 points, drilling four 3s and adding four rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots. The sophomore’s varsity career high before this was 20 in a game last year. She raised her team-high average from 12.8 to 14.
“At halftime I told the team that Avarie is carrying us,” Adams said. “She’s the only reason we were semi-close the whole game. She did not have enough help on offense tonight.”
After a scoreless first half, Emmie Burris came alive, hitting five straight shots during one stretch and finishing with 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Gracie Shore had seven points and six rebounds. Gentry had three points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
But Davie was a banged-up team as its winning streak ended at three. While Vivian Vaughters missed her second game with an injury, Londyn McDowell was unavailable with a sprained ankle.
“Londyn sprained her ankle yesterday in practice,” Adams said. “I’m hoping for her to be back on Friday (at Watauga in a game that was snowed out), but we’ll see.”
Notes: Central has a weird loss on its record. It fell 49-44 to North Iredell on Dec. 6. Interestingly enough, Davie blasted N. Iredell 68-18 on Nov. 26. … Two of Davie’s three losses are to Central.
Alexander Central 62, Davie 47 – Avarie Martin 22, Emmie Burris 11, Gracie Shore 7, Bailey Aderhold 4, Makenzie Gentry 3.