In the rematch pitting cross-county rivals O’Neal and North Moore girls’ basketball teams in a nonconference showdown at Robbins Monday, the visiting Lady Falcons showed a 10-point improvement from their first meeting against the Lady Mustangs.

Only thing is, North Moore scored nine more points in the second meeting as the Mustangs completed the season sweep with a 74-23 victory.

“It was a good win and a good game for us,” said North Moore assistant coach Chris Coble, whose team improves to 7-5 for the season. “It gave us a chance to work on some stuff to get us ready to get back into conference play. O’Neal played hard and is a very scrappy team. We hope they do well the rest of the season.

“We were able to get out on some fast breaks and that’s something we’ve been working on. We played focused on defense, and our pressure was good. We were able to make some adjustments, and we’re hoping they transfer into the conference schedule.”

Both teams came into the contest shorthanded due to injuries and other personal reasons. Coach Carl Bryan had only seven players on the O’Neal bench while North Moore had eight players ready for duty.

All eight North Moore players got into the scoring column, with junior Heather Dunmyer and sophomore Emma Loutzenheiser chipping in 19 points each, followed by senior Jalisa Davis with 14 points. Katherine Wooddell led the Falcons with seven points and teammates Maggie Johnson and Mary Dixon added five points each.

O’Neal came out hot, taking a quick 5-0 lead on a bucket by Wooddell and a three-pointer from Johnson out of the corner. Then the Mustangs countered with a 20-0 run fueled by five points each from Dunmyer and sophomore Andrea Brower that included one trey for both Mustangs.

O’Neal finally broke its scoring drought with 43 seconds left in the opening frame on a bucket by Scottie McGowen. North Moore led 22-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Loutzenheiser took over in the second period, coming up with seven points during the frame, with most of them coming off fast break buckets. Davis added four of the 14 points North Moore scored during the period for a 36-13 lead at the break.

North Moore continued to come up with steals and Falcon turnovers, converting them at the other end for easy buckets, boosting them to a 53-17 lead going into the final quarter.

Dunmyer turned things up a notch in the fourth quarter as she scored 10 of her 19 points as her team added 21 points to their total during the fourth quarter while the Falcons managed a pair of treys from Dixon and Wooddell for the final margin.

“The girls played very hard and fought the whole game,” said Falcon coach Carl Bryan, whose team falls to 1-11 on the season. “They (North Moore) play very good defense and they run the fast break very well. It was a thing of beauty to sit there and watch.

“This is a great environment for our girls to play in with the noise and their band playing. It’s a great atmosphere and we wish them (North Moore) luck over the rest of the season.”

Following the Mustang scoring leaders in the scoring column were Brower with five points, Jessie Sheffield five, Kasi Martin four, Mone’ Little four and Casey Turner four. McGowen finished with four points for O’Neal and Cydney Baldwin two.

North Moore continues playing the meat of its Yadkin Valley Conference schedule, with a home game against Gray Stone Friday, while O’Neal entertains Cape Fear Academy.

O’Neal 7 6 4 6 — 23

North Moore 22 14 17 21 — 74

O’Neal: Johnson 2 0-0 5, Wooddell 3 0-0 7, Dixon 2 0-1 5, McGowen 2 0-0 4, Baldwin 1 0-2 2, Mary Winston Dozier 0 0-2 0. Totals 10 0-5 23.

North Moore: Dunmyer 7 4-4 19, Loutzenheiser 8 2-6 19, Davis 6 0-0 14, Brower 2 0-2 5, Sheffield 2 0-1 5, Martin 2 0-0 4, Little 1 2-6 4, Turner 2 0-0 4. Totals 29 10-19 74.

Three-point goals: O’N 3 (Johnson, Dixon, Wooddell); NM 6 (Davis 2, Sheffield, Brower, Dunmyer, Loutzenheiser).