North Moore split varsity basketball games against visiting North Rowan Thursday night.

The Lady Mustangs maintained their second-place standing in the Yadkin Valley 1A Conference with a 68-46 win to improve to 13-5 overall and 9-3 in conference play.

“We shook off the rust from last night (45-42 win over Albemarle) and played pretty well,” said assistant coach Chris Coble. “It was a toal team effort, as we had nine kids get into the scoring column.”

Freshman Jalisa Davis led the effort with 23 points, and Shakorya Brower added 17. Hillary Walters finished with eight points, and Tashonna Farmer added five.

The game was competitive early on. North Moore took a 17-13 lead after the first quarter but outscored North Rowan 19-8 in the second quarter and 20-11 in the third to break the game open.

Meanwhile, the Mustang boys took another close loss, falling 57-54 to the conference frontrunner.

North Rowan jumped out to a 22-15 lead after the first quarter, but North Moore outscored the visitors 17-7 in the second quarter to lead 32-29 at halftime. The Mustangs carried a 43-42 lead into the fourth quarter but were outscored 15-11 in the final period.

“Our guys played strong against a very quick and athletic team,” said head coach Grant Smith. “We shot the ball faily well from the floor and improved at the free throw line, but we just could not get the win.”

John Spivey led the Mustangs with 14 points, and Wy-Key Brower added 12, while Tyler Wallace and Corbin Brock each finished with eight points.

North Moore fell to 4-14 overall and 3-9 in conference play, with nine of 12 conference games decided by eight points or less. The loss came one night after the Mustangs fell 58-50 in overtime to another team that is high in the conference standings, Albemarle.

“We are close, very close, to getting our heads above water,” said Smith. “Obviously it didn’t help our position in the conference to almost beat the top two teams, however, there are some positives we can build on. We are definitely playing our best basketball, and that has to translate into wins.”

The Mustang teams will celebrate Senior Night tonight hosting Gray Stone in a varsity doubleheader scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. It will also be “Pack It in Pink” night, as North Moore will raise funds to donate to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.