Cougars lose 3 in tough 2007 start
By Rex Overholser

The Lady Cougars visited their long-time conference rival Clinton Central in a familiar Hoosier Heartland Conference battle.

The game was marked with a series of lead changes and came down to which team would make the final shot. Clinton Central scored a goal with an excellent planned, out-of-bounds pass that was featured on the Channel 18 Friday Night Frenzy top 3 plays in the area. With 3 seconds to go and an added free throw, the Lady Bulldogs came away with the 45-43 victory. The loss left the Cougars with a 6-6 record (0-2 in the HHC). The Bulldogs improved to 4-9 and 1- 2 in the conference.

The first quarter was pretty flat for both teams with Clinton Central taking a 11-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. A 5-point lead was the biggest either team would have all night. The Bulldogs led 21-19 at the intermission. In the third quarter Krystal Brazel (16) points began to lead the Cougars back with some key shooting and rebounds (6). By the end of three the Cougars had tied the game at 30-30. Jaime McCarter (6) made some key passes to Ashley Miller for her 6 points in the paint.

The game was exciting in the fourth quarter as the Cougars battled back to take a 2-point lead. The last 1:56 took about 15 minutes to play as the fouling began and the free throws mounted up. Carroll missed some of its chances to lock this game up, hitting only 7-17 free throws. This set up the last 12 seconds of play with the Cougars up by one. The Bulldogs called their last timeout. The result saw their guard penetrate to the corner and a forward cut on the opposite side of the play to the bucket. A key pass resulted in a layup by Shelby Wilson and a big free throw to give the hosts their victory with 3.2 seconds to play.

The Cougars had their chances but in the end, the execution of rebounding and free throw shooting by Clinton Central made the difference.

Carroll's JV team took a 6-1 record to the Bulldogs' gym. The three-week layoff was evident as the Lady Cougars never scored until 3:58 in the second quarter. They had dug a big hole, trailing 15-4 at halftime. Lucy Zook (6) and Abby Reinke (5) injected some energy with some key shooting. The JV team came back too late, losing 22- 19.

Vs. Winamac

The Lady Cougars played host to the sleek and well-conditioned Winamac Warriors on Saturday. The 23rd year of the reign of their head coach, Jim Chaney showed why his program will be a contender in the 2A sectional hunt. Winamac came to Carroll with a 6-6 record, but clearly had played some solid teams close to prepare for their 2007 schedule. The Lady Warriors went home with a 64-33 victory, while the drained Cougars dropped to 6-7 with the loss.

The Lady Warriors were led by All-State candidate Kara Crawford, who has signed a letter of intent to play college basketball. Crawford had 18 points, but really never was tested in her play. The Warriors controlled the game from start to finish with speed, control, decision making, and team play.

The Lady Cougars committed 16 turnovers and managed only 13 shots in the 2nd and 3rd quarters that resulted in a sandblasting by the Warriors, who took a 50-20 lead at the end of three quarters. The Cougars had only a couple of bright segments with Ashley Miller hitting 10 points and getting 5 rebounds and Jaime McCarter adding 6 with 2 assists. This game showed that the Cougars have a long way to climb in the program in order to show that they can play with one of the better teams in the area.

Carroll's JV team fell to 6-3 with their second loss in two days. Final score was 29-28. The Warriors trailed until the last 13 seconds of the game. A former Carroll player, Ally Parks, nailed her free throws to give the Warriors the victory. Zook led the Cougars with 15 points in one of her best overall games all year.

Vs. Maconaquah

The Maconaquah Braves came to CHS showing why they have a 12-2 record. Junior Deja Mattox scored 26 points and showed why she is going to be an Indiana All-Star next year. She has already committed to attend Eastern Michigan to play basketball.

The Braves quickly jumped in the lead and led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Cougars came back with 3 three pointers by Brazel and 2 three pointers by Brooke Yoder to get as close as they could with a score of 16-15. The Braves quickly got into a rhythm and scored 9 quick points on steals and layups and the Cougars trailed at the end of the first half, 28-18. The Braves came out with their star player getting 15 points in the third quarter and the game quickly got away from the Cougars. The 6-8 Cougars finished the game with 32 points to the 11-2 Braves' score of 61. The Cougars fought hard for the first half but could not keep up with the intensity of the talented Braves.

The JV team faced a tough Brave team that had only lost one game. They held in to lose by a score of 31-27. This game was decided by a 3-point shot by the Braves at the end of the second quarter with the Cougars trailing 22-8. Leading the Cougars were Zook with 7 and Molly Craig with 6 points. The Cougars dropped to 6-3.

The Cougars get back into action at Lafayette Central Catholic on Jan. 18 at 6 p.m.