Lady Cougars win fifth in a row
By Rex Overholser Guest sportswriter

Tight defense Carroll senior Krystal Brazel gets hammered going for a first quarter shot at home last week against North White. The Lady Cougars won the contest easily, 48-23. Brazel led her team with 15 points. Bill Stauffer photo

The Lady Cougars visited the Panther Den at Pioneer on Saturday on the prowl for their fifth straight victory. The Cougars came away with an win, raising their record to 5-3 and sending the Lady Panthers back into their den with a record of 2-7.

This Lady Cougars came out of the gate slow with Coach Mike McCroskey calling a constructive time out at 2:46 in the first quarter to install some defensive intensity into the game strategy. The Panthers led at that point 7-6. The last minute of the first quarter saw Krystal Brazel and Jaime McCarter hit 2 key 3 pointers to inject some offensive energy into the Cougars for a 16-10 lead.

The second quarter opened with Sarah Griffin getting a 3- point play on a well executed pick and roll. The Cougars never looked back as they began to execute offensively. A key factor at 3:49 left in the second quarter, Katy Fox of the Panthers picked up her third foul. The Lady Cougars sprinted to a 31-18 lead at the half stanza.

The second half of the game saw lots of offense and not much defense. The two teams opened the shooting gates to finish the game with a 12- point victory final of 61-49. Abby Reinke led the Lady Cougars with 19 points. Brooke Yoder added 13 and McCarter added 8.

The task gets much tougher for Carroll's ladies with a trip to West Lafayette on Thursday, at 6 p.m. The Lady Red Devils will present a tough challenge. The Lady Cougars will have to play a tough, defensive scheme and hit on all cylinders on the offensive end to achieve their sixth win in a row.

Vs. North White

By Jim McCarter Contributing sportswriter

Carroll girls' basketball games have all followed the same pattern, lately. The Lady Cougars can't seem to find the basket in the first quarter, but once they get their offence going, look out.

Carroll followed that pattern once again Dec. 6 en route to a convincing 48-23 victory over the North White Lady Vikings. The loss dropped North White to 2-6.

"After our 20% shooting in the first quarter I thought this was the best we've played all year," Coach McCroskey said. "We are hustling and attacking, getting a lot of deflections. It's hard to play against a team like that. There's no question in my mind that these girls have become confident in what we're trying to do. They have been coming out onto the court expecting to win - and then doing it."

Carroll led just 2-0 when North White called a time out with 4:23 left in the first quarter. At that point the Lady Cougars had connected on just 1 of 6 field-goal attempts, an offensive rebound put-back by Abby Reinke. After Reinke hit another lay up, North White's Brittney Kesler hit a 3-pointer to cut Carroll's lead to 4-3 with 3:18 to go in the opening stanza.

At that point the home team Lady Vikings 8-2 the rest of the quarter to take a 12-5 lead at the first stop. Brooke Yoder hit a 3-pointer during that run, and Quinci Eller, Jaime McCarter and Krystal Brazel combined to hit 5 of 7 free throw attempts.

The Lady Cougars edged the lead up to 19-10 by halftime, then utilized a big third quarter to put the game out of reach. Carroll scorched the nets in the third quarter, hitting 8 of 12 field-goal attempts (67%). Eller and Brazel each knocked down a pair of 3-point bombs, and Reinke added three lay ups and two assists. When the dust settled on the third quarter, the Lady Cougars enjoyed a 39-18 lead.

"In the second half we did a better job moving the basketball," McCroskey said. "I was pleased by how quickly we recognized their defenses and got into the right offense."

Brazel led Carroll with 15 points. Reinke added 12 points, 8 rebounds and 6 steals, and Eller scored 10.

"I scouted North White twice and was concerned by how big they were," McCroskey said. "But our kids surprised me by out rebounding them (26-19). We've been working on rebounding a lot in practice and tonight we were getting our hands on the ball even when North White got a rebound."

JV

Carroll's junior varsity improved its record to 5-3 with another impressive win. Since there are just 13 players on the Lady Cougars' varsity and junior varsity rosters combined, the JV has been playing shortened games. The Lady Cougars dominated the Lady Vikings 21-2 in a two-quarter game.

Kayla Tussinger was a force on the inside, leading Carroll with 10 points. Jessica Yoder and Amber Hughes each scored 4 for Coach Katie Seward's squad.