Lady Cougars come from behind to overtake Gophers
By Jim McCarter Contributing sportswriter

It's mine Carroll's Abby Reinke, left, and Quinci Eller, right, scramble for a loose ball against a Clinton Prairie defender last week. The Lady Cougars came from behind to defeat Clinton Prairie 30-28. Bill Stauffer photo

The last week in November was a good one for the Carroll Lady Cougars, who evened their season record at 3-3 with a pair of victories. While they look the same in the record books, the two wins couldn't have been more different.

Last Tuesday night the Lady Cougars recovered from a nine-point deficit to win 30-28 in the final seconds at Clinton Prairie, then in their first home game of the season, destroyed the Caston Comets 63-20 Thursday night.

Hoosier Heartland Conference rival Clinton Prairie's size and physical play provided a tough challenge for the much smaller Cougars. Clinton Prairie's April Farley (6') and Hillary Doyle (5' 11") anchored a stingy zone defense that allowed Carroll to score just four points over the first 12 minutes of the game. Carroll struggled to get a good shot, hitting just one of 13 field-goal attempts during that stretch.

The game was tied 4-all after the first quarter, then the Go- phers went on a 9-0 run to lead 13-4 with 4:13 left in the first half. All nine of those points came from Farley and Doyle, who finished with 8 and 15, respectively.

A 3-pointer from deep in the right corner by Krystal Brazel finally ended Carroll's scoring drought at the 3:50 mark. The Lady Gophers led 15-9 at the half.

"Some times you have to be able to win ugly," Carroll coach Mike McCroskey said. "At halftime we talked about how close our full-court press was to forcing some turnovers. We weren't shooting well, but we kept it close enough that we could win the game in the second half."

Brooke Yoder hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to start the second half. After the Gophers hit one of two free-throw attempts for a 16-12 led, the Lady Cougars scored four unanswered points to tie the game. Sara Griffin hit a lay up from an assist by Jaime Mc- Carter, and Morgan Yoder found the net on a pair of free throws. Carroll had finally clawed its way back to a 16-16 tie with 4:01 left in the third quarter.

"I wasn't sure we were ever going to get over the top, but that three-point shot by Brooke to start the second half was big," McCroskey said. "Sara Griffin played well for us tonight. She played solid defense inside and rebounded. She did what she can do to help our team."

The Lady Gophers pulled away to a 28-24 lead late in the fourth quarter when B. Yoder again hit a big 3-point shot. Her 20 footer from the right wing with 3:15 remaining cut Clinton Prairie's lead to 28-27, setting up a pressure-filled finish. Yoder led the Lady Cougars with 12 points, hitting 3 of 6 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.

Neither team could score for almost 3 minutes until Abby Reinke's driving lay up with :27.9 left gave Carroll a 29-28 advantage, its first lead since the opening quarter. B. Yoder added a free throw with :07.8 to go, to put the Lady Cougars on top 30-28.

After a timeout, Clinton Prairie got the ball down the court where Kacy Black missed a 15-footer and Mc- Carter pulled down the rebound as the final horn sounded.

"I don't think these girls have had a game where they trailed and came from behind to win like this," McCroskey said. "This is a learning process, and these girls keep improving."

The victory was a significant one for the Cougars. It was their first conference victory in two years, and just their second Hoosier Heartland Conference win in the last eight seasons.

Carroll's ladies shrugged off another slow start to blow away the Caston Comets 63- 20, improving to 3-3 on the season.

The Lady Cougars led just 2- 0 when Coach McCroskey called timeout with 4:02 left in the first quarter. At that point the Lady Cougars had missed all 9 of their field goal attempts. Following the timeout, Carroll got their offense rolling and Caston had no answer. The Lady Cougars outscored Caston 10-2 after that timeout to take a 12-2 lead after one quarter.

"Offensively we were doing things OK, we just missed our shots," McCroskey said. "We told them to be ready to shoot. After we started hitting some threes, everyone relaxed."

Carroll's offensive attack got even better in the second quarter. The Lady Cougars hit 7 of their first 9 field goal attempts in the second quarter for 17-3 run that put Carroll firmly in control of the game 32-5. The Lady Cougars hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter, finishing with 10 for the game on 21 attempts.

"This is the kind of shooting performance we've been waiting for," McCroskey said. "Brooke (Yoder) is finally getting some confidence in her shooting. Krystal Brazel had an awesome game. She's starting to do what we want her to do. She had eight assists and six rebounds."

Brazel was everywhere in the decisive second quarter. She dished out two assists to B. Yoder for a 3-pointer in both corners, hit McCarter for a short jumper and a lay up, and found Quinci Eller for an easy lay in. Brazel also added a 3- pointer in the second quarter, and three for the game.

B. Yoder led the Lady Cougars with 17 points, hitting 5 of 10 attempts from long range. Eller added 14 points, followed by Brazel with 9, Reinke with 7 and M. Yoder with 6.

"Morgan (Yoder) came in and did a nice job," Mc- Croskey said. "And Quinci (Eller) continues to be steady. She just does what she does game after game."

The Lady Cougars look to move above the .500 mark when they host the North White Vikings Thursday.

Junior Varsity

Carroll's junior varsity also notched a win at Clinton Prairie, breaking open a close game in the third quarter for a 39-24 victory. The Lady Cougars led 19-12 at halftime, then took command, outscoring Clinton Prairie 11-3 in the third quarter. Lucy Zook led Carroll with 13 points. Jessica Yoder added 8 and Kayla Tussinger and Sara Griffin each added 5.

Carroll's JV also won big, pounding Caston 25-2. J. Yoder led the way for the Lady Cougars with 11 points. Zook added 7 and Amber Hughes scored 4.