After dropping the first two games of the season to Wakefield High and Broughton High, Cary High’s girls basketball team has rebounded to win five straight games — the latest being an impressive 58-40 non-conference win at Sanderson High on Friday night.

The Imps came out slow against Sanderson (2-6) and looked more like the team that started 0-2 than the one that had won the previous four.

Turnovers and foul trouble plagued Cary early as it went into the half leading an undermanned Sanderson team by just a point.

At halftime, coach Steve Crute reminded his team to concentrate on the basics.

“I told them to do the little things,” Crute said. “Move the ball and we’ll get shots.” Crute’s speech proved to be effective as Cary came out with a big offensive performance in the third quarter.

Senior Kayla Thompson hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter on the way to 10 points for the game.

“Kayla Thompson had a huge third quarter,” Crute said. “She was knocking down shots, Brittany King was running the offense and it was a lot of fun to watch.”

The road win over Sanderson was another step in the right direction for a Cary team that started the season reeling a bit.

Crute believes that the two losses his team suffered were more a reflection of how good their opponents were than on the ability of his team.

“The first two teams we played were Broughton and Wakefield,” Crute said. “They’re pretty good and we played them back-to-back nights. We probably could’ve beaten Broughton, but we were a little bit tired. Since then, we’ve just played well and made some good shots.”

Thompson said the opening games were an adjustment.

“Those first two games we were just trying to get used to each other and play as a team,” Thompson said. “This year we have a few new people so we were just trying to work the kinks out and stuff like that. And we came back and beat Broughton really bad. We had to get the kinks out.”

The Imps have turned things around with a healthy dose of ball movement in their half-court set. Cary lacks a go-to player or scorer and has had to get most of its points off of the break and with constant ball movement.

“We don’t have that one truly dominant player that can take over one-on-five,” Crute said. “So we move the ball and five is harder to guard than one. The girls have bought into it so far.”

“It’s definitely more of a team effort than last year,” Thompson said. “Most of our plays are more passing plays this year. We move the ball really well. We’re just a good all around team.”

Helping the teamÂ’s transition to a more balanced attack has been the stellar play of point guard King.

When the Cary offense has hummed, it has been King pushing the ball and finding open teammates.

KingÂ’s presence is vital to their teamÂ’s success and her teammates know it.

“We count on Brittany a lot for this team,” Thompson said. “That’s our point guard, she does it for us. If we didn’t have Britney I don’t know what we’d do because she makes so many key plays.”

Also chipping in on the ImpsÂ’ early success has been sophomore forward Kelsey Campbell. The long, athletic forward has run the floor well this year and has been rewarded with a lot of shots on the break.

“She’s a good ball player,” said Crute of Campbell. “She’s doing some good things offensively and when those shots start falling she’s going to really have some big numbers.”

Campbell finished with 13 points against Sanderson and should find an increased role as the season progresses.