OT free throw shooting is Carroll's downfall
By Jim McCarter Contributing sportswriter

Every loss hurts, but some cut deeper, and hurt longer than others.

Carroll's Lady Cougars got run through by Sheridan at the Larry Hobbs Memorial Hall Monday night. Their 47-45 overtime loss to the Lady Hawks left the 0-3 Lady Cougars, their coaches and fans stunned, and bitterly disappointed.

Carroll never trailed during the entire 32 minutes of regulation play. In fact, the game was tied only once, 6-6, for less than a minute. But the Lady Cougars were unable to come up with a big play when they needed it most.

Sheridan trailed 41-39 with just 3 seconds remaining in regulation when their coach Jeff Guenther called timeout. The Lady Hawks got the ball in to their best player, Kendra Hedge, who threw in a short jumper from the left side as the buzzer sounded. Hedge also hit 3 of 4 free-throw attempts in the final 1:07 of overtime.

Carroll scored first in O.T., hitting a free throw to take its final lead of the night, 42-41. With 3:06 left in the overtime period, 6-1 center Taylor Nielsen hit a lay-up to give Sheridan its first lead of the game, 43-42.

"We dominated the boards for more than three quarters, then gave up three big offensive rebounds and put backs in the final three minutes," Carroll's head coach Mike McCroskey said. "We let them come back, then regrouped and got the lead back to five, then we gift wrapped the game for them by hitting just 3 of 8 free throws down the stretch."

Carroll went to the line three times in the final 54 seconds of regulation, hitting just one of four attempts. Two of those misses were the front ends of one-and-ones. In the overtime period, the Lady Cougars hit 2 of 4 attempts from the line. Sheridan's shooters fared much better, hitting 6 of 8 free tosses in the final seconds of regulation and in overtime.

The first half was a much happier time for the Lady Cougars. A 3-pointer by Quinci Eller in the final seconds of the first quarter gave Carroll an 11-7 lead at the first stop. The Lady Cougars extended that lead to 21-9, and looked poised to put Sheridan away early before a 6- 2 run by the Lady Hawks cut the lead to 23-15 at halftime.

Morgan Yoder led the way in the first half for Carroll, scoring 8 points and grabbing three rebounds. Eller contributed 5 points, 6 rebounds and a steal to the Lady Cougars' first-half success, and Jamie McCarter pitched in 4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals.

Sheridan chipped away at Carroll's lead throughout the second half, setting up Hedge's heroics.

Eller led the Lady Cougars with 11 points, followed by M. Yoder and Abby Reinke with 10 and 9, respectively.

Sheridan didn't have enough players, so there was no junior varsity game.

The Lady Cougars had just two days to get over the disappointing loss, but that was easy, as they face cross-county rival Delphi tonight, Wednesday, for Carroll County bragging rights.

Vs. Western

Put yourself in coach Mc- Croskey's shoes for a moment, then close your eyes and imagine his worst nightmare.

Western was that nightmare in the opening minute of the Lady Cougars' Nov. 13 game.

The Lady Panthers hit three 3- point shots in the first 49 seconds, and two more later in the first quarter to build a 24-5 advantage the Lady Cougars couldn't overcome. The 1-2 Lady Panthers were able to maintain that advantage to capture their first victory of the season, 58-40.

"I was very disappointed with our play in the first quarter," McCroskey said. "They beat us to every loose ball and every rebound, and they couldn't miss. Western was coming off a game at West Lafayette where they shot 12 percent from the field. We knew they would shoot much better than that tonight."

Western hit 9 of 14 field-goal attempts in the first quarter for a sizzling 64-percent, while the Cougars found the net on just 1 of 6 attempts. Carroll also committed five turnovers in the first quarter.

Western cooled off to 4-of-10 shooting in the second quarter, but was still able take a 34-15 lead at halftime.

Reinke provided most of the bright spots for Carroll in the first half, scoring 9. She was aggressive with the basketball on offensive, and attacked the boards.

"Reinke played a tremendous game," McCroskey said. "She scored, rebounded and battled Western all night."

Reinke finished with teamhigh totals of 11 points and five rebounds for 0-2 Carroll.

The Lady Cougars played Western even throughout the second half, showing much more life after halftime, a fact that McCroskey was quick to point out.

"As down as we were after the first half, we were equally happy the second half," Mc- Croskey said. "We were two different teams tonight. This season is going to be a learning process and the second half showed we can play."

The Lady Cougars picked up their pace of play at both ends of the court after intermission, outscoring Western 12-10 in the third quarter. Two seniors, Mc- Carter and Krystal Brazel, scored all 12 of those points. Both hit a 3-pointer and Brazel knocked down a jumper from the right side of the free-throw line. McCarter also made a pair of layups, the second one following a nice pass from Reinke. Eller scored 9 and had 4 steals.

JV loses

Carroll's junior varsity team dropped to 1-1 with a 35-23 loss to the Lady Panthers.

The Lady Cougars trailed just 23-19 after three quarters, but could only manage to score four points in the fourth quarter, allowing Western to pull away.

Jessica Yoder paced Carroll with eight points, followed by Carly Yoder and Lucy Zook who each scored five.