KNIGHTDALE - When the East Wake girls were held to less than 50 points and outscored Knightdale by a mere 8 points in December it raised some red flags to Warrior coach Toni Vick.

The 46-38 final score of that game was well off track with East Wake’s offensive norm. The Warriors (11-3, 4-1 Greater Neuse River 4A as of Thursday) have averaged 57 points this season. They’ve allowed about what Knightdale scored — 40 points on average.

Knightdale (5-7, 3-2) has averaged 45 points on offense, while allowing 56 points on average from its opponents.

"I felt like we didn’t show up the first half. Mentally we weren’t there," East Wake coach Toni Vick said of the teams’ first meeting this season. "We didn’t stop penetration well on defense and when they kicked it out to their wings we didn’t cover it well. My bench — any player going into the game — didn’t produce as much in that game, but my bench is learning how to do more at this point."

Vick said when the two teams meet again this Friday her team will be able to score on its normal pace if her players play hard right out of the gate. She said starting on time has been a problem.

"We have to start playing at the tip off. We can’t wait until the second half to show up," she said. "We have the talent to win; it’s just a matter of how much they want to win."

Vick said her girls will have to contain Knightdale point guard Ajee Smith and keep her from penetrating as much as she did in the first meeting. Smith scored a team- and game-high 16 points to keep things close.

She also said the Lady Warriors struggle with defensive breakdowns and need to be particularly weary of that against their down-the-road rival.

"It doesn’t happen that often, but we need to be sure we can get defensive stops when it comes to crunch time. We need to improve on that," she said.

She doesn’t only have dislikes about her team. Naturally, Vick is pleased with another quality start to the season, both in and out of the conference. She said the team has built chemistry as it’s gone along and the players like Tianna Knuckles, Shakerrya Morrison and Kianna Wynn have stepped up their leadership. Those three led East Wake with 14, 13 and 11 points, respectively, in the December win over the Knights.

"I like how our girls play together," Vick said. "They work hard."

Knightdale coach Anthony Byrd did not return calls seeking comment for this report.