Carroll ladies improve to 3-3
By Rex Overholser

The Lady Cougars made a long trip in the cold to North White’s newly refurbished gym and left a big claw on the floor with a much needed 48-36 win 48-36. Ashley Miller led the Lady Cougar’s with 13 points and 1l rebounds, but this was a team win. Everyone contributed to the scoring except one player - showing tremendous balance and a solid effort of role execution as the bench continued strong play. Key supportive roles in this win came from Abby Reinke (5), Morgan Yoder (4), Hannah Peden (5), Courtney Hall (4) and Kara Overholser.

On Saturday, the Lady Cougars played a sustained game for 32 minutes at Memorial Gym and were rewarded with a 54-40 win over the (3-6) Pioneer Panthers.

The wins improved Carroll’s overall season record to 3-3.

The game summary against North White revealed a familiar start by the Cougars, who had a 12-7 point lead in the first quarter.

The second quarter saw the most exciting team ball movement of the season, creating some open shots for Krystal Brazel and Ashley Miller to score. This quarter had 5 assists for the Lady Cougars in unselfish team ball. Coach Clay Hanna was yelling to his players to zip the ball to open teammates and they responded by taking a 16 point lead into the half. Hall played a key offensive support role in the later half of the second quarter when Miller picked up her second foul. The perimeter passing opened up the middle and also helped to get the shooters open from the outside. North White defenders were stymied in their attempt to slow down the offensive movement.

The host Vikings came out in the third quarter with a dangerous spark, getting the lead down cut to 6 with about 4 minutes left in the period. Coach Hanna called a timeout and inserted the players who were playing together in the second quarter. A couple of steals and an important 3- point bucket at the end of the quarter by Reinke took the lead up to 14 again. North White tried to come back in the final period, getting the lead back to under 10 points but the Lady Cougars held their ground and came home with a team win.

The Lady Cougars hit approximately 48% of their shots and collected 32 rebounds. Miller was complimented by strong allaround play by Krystal Brazel with 8 points and 4 rebounds. Overholser and B. Yoder added quality rebounds. Reinke is gaining varsity experience quickly and contributing to scoring with her role as back-up support in the guard position.

The JV summary saw a 35-30 win by the Cougars. The JV team looked flat in the first half and dug a big hole of 18-6 before starting to chop wood and bring back the momentum. The third quarter saw an aggressive press by the Cougars and this melted the Vikings. Erynn Feasel had the best game of her career. Luci Zook got untracked and hit some key shots and Amber Hughes played a mean defense to help get the Cougars back on top for the win. Zook with 12 and Hughes 10 led the Cougars with key scoring in the second half.

Vs. Pioneer

Carroll’s ladies came out with the most team intensity and spirit they have showed all year. They hit four 3 pointers in the first segment of the game to take an early 19-12 lead. Brooke Yoder (11) points led the Cougars with 8 points in the first quarter. Brazel played another solid overall game, scoring 10 points with two 3 pointers, and 4 rebounds.

The Cougars kept up the intensity and defensive stops as the taller Panthers had trouble bringing up the ball against this pesky bunch of Cougars. The second quarter showed the lead being extended to 11 points at halftime, 29-18, with two more three’s by Overholser (6) and Reinke (5). Sarah Brown with four points and 6 rebounds played her best half of the year, helping to keep the Panther’s leading scorer, Nataly Ross to 17 points.

The second half saw the Panthers try to knock the lead down but they could only get it to 6. The Cougars responded with all 10 players seeing action in the third quarter. Courtney Hall played a solid back-up role for Ashley Miller (8) who got in foul trouble early in the third quarter. The Cougars sustained the energy with all girls rotating into the line-up with fresh legs and the intensity wore down the Royal Center group. Jaime McCarter (5) and Peden (4) played a solid floor game to lock the victory up.

This was a total team victory and showed promise for why the “Year of Evolution” might be true for this team. Nine players contributed offensively and everyone picked up at least one rebound. The game showed defensive intensity from start to finish. The Lady Cougars shot 6 of 18 treys to nail down 18 points with 4 players hitting them and giving opponents more dangerous weapons to defend against. The Lady Cougars have a better 3-point shooting percentage for the year than they are shooting from 2-point range. A 16 of 23 free throw shooting record helped to secure the victory.

The Lady Cougars improved to 3-3 with this win. They play host to West Central and Lowell in the Cougar Memorial Classic on Saturday. This game will be played at 11 a.m. and the Cougars will play host to Lowell at 8 as a part of this four-game tournament. The Cougar Classic is a day of basketball that makes all contributions to the Carroll Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Coach Katie Seward’s junior varsity improved to 5-1 with an easy 37-11 win over the Panthers. Hughes played an excellent overall game scoring 7 points and Zook added 11 points and Molly Craig 6 for the Cougars.