By James W. Houston

Special to The Pilot

Last week was a slow week on the Yadkin Valley Conference basketball courts with most of the schools having exams. There was supposed to be a full slate of games Friday, but because of wintry weather a pair of doubleheaders were postponed.

The South Davidson at West Montgomery games were postponed until Jan. 30, and the Albemarle at North Rowan contests are now slated to be played Jan. 31.

The South Davidson girls' game is an important contest with the Lady Wildcats undefeated in league play with an 8-0 mark, while the Lady Warriors have only one conference loss. The same scenario is the case in the North Rowan-Albemarle boys' game with the Cavaliers sporting an 8-0 league mark and the Bulldogs having only one blemish in the loss column.

There were a couple of doubleheaders played Friday with North Moore on the road at South Stanly and East Montgomery traveling to Gray Stone.

The Lady Mustangs overcame a hot-shooting Lady Rebel Bulls team for a 50-43 victory while the Mustang boys held off a late rally for a 65-60 win, giving both clubs season sweeps over South Stanly.

The win by the boys' team gives the Mustangs a 5-3 mark, a half-game behind third place West Montgomery, who sports a 5-2 league record. The Mustang girls have an identical 5-3 league mark and are a half-game ahead of Chatham Central, who has a 4-3 record in conference action. North Rowan with a 5-2 record is sitting in third place.

The Eagles swept their doubleheader at Gray Stone with the Lady Eagles avenging an earlier loss to the Lady Knights by a 55-53 score. The East boys had few problems taking down the winless Knights by a 76-33 score.

The Eagles are currently sitting tied for fifth place with South Stanly, both with 4-4 conference records while the girls' 2-6 record is a half-game behind sixth-place Albemarle with a 2-5 record. The rest of the boys' standings have Chatham Central in seventh place with a 2-5 record, South Davidson with a 1-7 mark and Gray Stone winless at 0-9.

The South Stanly girls' team is in eighth place with a 1-7 record and Gray Stone last, having won one of nine conference games.

The North Rowan boys' team is the conference' top scoring team, averaging 73.6 points per game while Albemarle is second with 67.1 points per contest. North Moore is fourth in scoring with 56.7 points per game. Conference girls' leader South Davidson tops the girls' scoring with 59.9 points per game, while North Moore is currently second, averaging 58.7 points.

In the individual scoring averages, North Moore senior Jalisa Davis holds a slim lead over Albemarle's Akela Branch. Davis is averaging 23.1 points per game, while Branch scores 22.8 points per game. Davis is also the league's top three-point shooter with 32 treys for the season, followed by Albemarle' Kyleigh McLendon with 23.

South Davidson's Madison Beeson and North Rowan's Special Washington and Taylor Sells all have 17 from beyond the arc. West Montgomery's Latoya Cuthrell is the conference's leading rebounder with 16.1 boards per game. Cuthrell and Branch are both averaging double-doubles with Branch pulling down 14.7 rebounds and Cuthrell scoring 15.7 points per game.

North Rowan's Oshon West is the conference's top scorer among the boys' team with 18.1 points per game. South Stanly's Michard Richardson is second with an average of 15.9 per game, followed by Chatham Central's Zack Burke at 15.3 and North Moore's Quashan Davis 14.8.

Burke is the conference's top rebounder with 9.9 per game followed by East Montgomery's Ahmad Baldwin with 8.0 per game and West Montgomery's Shyquan Little with 7.6 boards per game.

North Moore's Davis is the top three-pointer shooter for the boys, having converted on 32 this year in 15 games. Chatham Central's Jeremy Kerr, Albemarle's Terrace Ellis and South Stanly's Wes Smith are tied for second with 18 treys each. North Rowan's West and West Montgomery's Cody McKenzie have netted 17 treys each.