McCarter and Yoder spark Cougar ladies off the bench
By Jim McCarter Contributing sportswriter

The Carroll girls' basketball team got off to a great start in 2008, soundly defeating Hoosier Heartland Conference rival Clinton Central 43-29 on Jan. 4. The victory was followed by losses to two good teams - Winamac and Maconaquah.

The Lady Bulldogs jumped ahead 7-2 with 1:24 left in the first quarter, as Carroll committed three early turnovers and hit just 1 of its first 10 field-goal attempts.

"I wish I could have some clue what happens to our girls mentally early in games," Carroll Coach Mike McCroskey said. "We try to run an offense we have run a hundred times in practice, and we have girls going the wrong direction. We also got killed on the boards in the first quarter."

Then McCroskey sent in two girls from the bench who immediately turned the game around. Jaime McCarter entered the game late in the first period and got a lay up off an offensive rebound to cut Central's lead to 7-4 at the first stop.

McCarter then hit the first shot of the second quarter, a 3- pointer from the right corner to tie the game at 7-7. Mc- Croskey inserted freshman Jess Yoder to start the second quarter and the Lady Cougar rout was on.

"Without question when Jaime and Jess went in the tempo of play increased considerably," McCroskey said. "Both got a lot of defensive deflections and made good things happen. But we saw that coming. Both had phenomenal practices during Christmas break."

Abby Reinke broke the tie with a free throw with 6:02 left to give Carroll an 8-7 lead, and the Lady Cougars never looked back. Carroll scored the first 11 points of the second quarter to take a 15-7 lead. Clinton Central's only points in the period came on a jumper from the left corner by Shelby Wilson with :15 left before half time.

The Lady Cougars scored the first 8 points of the third quarter to take command of the game 23-9. After three quarters Carroll led 30-16.

McCroskey was also pleased with the Lady Cougars' freethrow shooting. Carroll hit 19 of 26 for 73%. Reinke hit 8 of 13, Quinci Eller netted all four of her attempts and McCarter made 7 of 9 tries.

Reinke has been a workhorse for Carroll all season, and Friday was no exception. She played all but 2:10 of the game, leading the Lady Cougars with 14 points and 6 rebounds.

"We tried to get Abby some rest," McCroskey said. "But she does so many things for us it's tough to take her out. Lucy Zook did a great job for us in relief, getting a big bucket when we pulled away in the second quarter."

Zook had two steals, turning one into a coast-to-coast lay up in heavy traffic. McCarter was the only other Lady Cougar in double figures with 12 points, 4 boards, 2 steals and 7 deflections. Jess Yoder added 7 points on perfect 3-of-3 shooting from the field, and had 2 steals and 3 deflections.

Jaci Bowman and Kaylea Eli led 4-9 (1-2 in the HHC) Clinton Central with 8 points apiece.

Carroll Junior Varsity lost a heartbreaker in the evening's first game, losing to the Lady Bulldogs 18-16. The Lady Cougars got a steal with :04 to go, but their potentially gametying shot lingered on the rim before falling away. J. Yoder scored 5 and Zook and Carly Yoder both scored 4.

Vs. Winamac

The Lady Cougars have made a habit of starting slow, then playing well the last three quarters throughout the 2007- 2008 season. They chose the wrong team to spot a 10-point lead Saturday afternoon when Winamac came to Flora. The 11-2 Class 2A, No. 1 Lady Warriors raced to a 10-0 lead and finished strong to give the 6-6 Lady Cougars their worst defeat of the season, 59-38.

The Lady Cougars committed 4 turnovers, missed their first 3 shots and called a timeout all before Morgan Yoder got them on the scoreboard. After Yoder's free throw with 3:16 left in the first quarter Carroll trailed the Lady Warriors 10-1.

Carroll played the Lady Warriors dead even, 11-11, in the second quarter, then put together a great run to start the second half. The Lady Cougars outscored Winamac 9-2 over the first 2:06 of the third quarter to close the gap to 28-24.

"Take away the first 4:00 and we competed with a very good team for three quarters," Mc- Croskey said. "We got a great start in the third quarter, then turned the ball over four possessions trying to force the ball inside. We make to many poor decisions when passing the ball."

Winamac then went inside to their leading scorer Erika Redweik (17 pts.) for two quick buckets, and picked up their defensive intensity to extend the lead back to double figures. The Lady Warriors led 42-31 after three quarters of play.

Winamac outscored Carroll 17-7 in the fourth quarter, as the Lady Cougars appeared to run out of gas.

"We outrebounded Winamac in the second half," Mc- Croskey said. "That's something we've got to do more often. We got a lot of good shots in the fourth quarter, we just didn't hit them. Fatigue may have played a part in that. We had a reasonably hard game Friday night. Give the caliber of competition, this was a step forward for us."

Quinci Eller paced the Lady Cougars with 11 points. Mc- Carter added 9, all from beyond the 3-point line, and Reinke scored 8 points and pulled down 7 rebounds.

Carroll JV won a two-quarter game 15-11 to improve its record to 6-5. J. Yoder led the Lady Cougars with 7 points.

Vs. Maconaquah

The Carroll Lady Cougars fell to 6-7 on the season, but continued to show improvement, losing to (11-2) Maconaquah 60-49 Monday night.

"I never like a loss, but Maconaquah is a very good basketball team," McCroskey said. "We hung tooth and nail with a 3A team that has only lost two games and one of those was to undefeated (13-0 Class 2A, No. 2) Oak Hill. We were even in turnovers, almost even in rebounds and actually got more shots than Maconaquah. It came down to them beating us in field-goal percentage. The most important thing is we are continuing to get better."

After what has been a season of poor starts by the Lady Cougars, Carroll finally played a solid first quarter against a strong team. McCarter opened the game with a 3-pointer from the right wing, then Eller and M. Yoder did the rest. Eller hit three field goals, and Yoder found the net on 3 of 4 freethrow attempts and made a nice drive to the basket for a lay up.

There were nine lead changes and two ties in the exciting, well-played first quarter. Maconaquah's Indiana Statebound Deja Mattox scored 8 in the first period to help the Lady Braves edge out a 15-14 firstquarter lead.

The second quarter was not as kind to the Lady Cougars. Maconaquah ourscored Carroll 10-2 to open the quarter, giving the Lady Braves a 25-16 lead with 4:37 left in the first half. Kayla George hit two 3-pointers and Mattox added two short jumpers during that run. Mattox led all scorers with 23 and George scored 14.

Another short shot in the lane by Mattox gave Maconaquah its biggest lead of the game, 32-19, with 2:51 to go and the Lady Braves looked poised to make the game a blowout. But a jumper from the free-throw line and a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner by Krystal Brazel kept the Lady Cougars within striking distance at half time, 32-24.

"This was the best game Krystal has had in a while," McCroskey said. "We've gotten consistent play from Jaime [McCarter], Abby [Reinke] and Quinci [Eller], but we need to play more consistently throughout our lineup."

Maconaquah's lead lingered on either side of 10 points throughout the third quarter.

Trailing 46-35 after three, Carroll made one last run at the Lady Braves. M. Yoder had a pair of lay ups in the first :48 of the fourth quarter, one off an offensive rebound and the second following a steal by the senior forward. Eller added a free throw between those two buckets to cut the gap to 46-40. The Cougars could get no closer.

"Morgan had a great second half," McCroskey said. "And Quinci really took over the third quarter. Her shooting off the dribble was awesome."

Eller score 9 of Carroll's 11 third-quarter points and finished with 20 on outstanding 8- of-13 shooting from the field. M. Yoder added 9 points and Brazel scored 7.

Reinke was a beast on the boards, pulling down 11 rebounds and McCarter grabbed 7.

The Lady Cougars get 10 days off before returning to play always tough Hoosier Heartland Conference rival Lafayette Central Catholic. Carroll currently sits atop the HHC with the Tri-Central Trojans at 2-0 in loop play.

Earlier in the evening, Carroll's JV dominated a two quarter game 28-9. The Lady Cougars led 16-9 after one quarter, then shutout Maconaquah in the final quarter. J. Yoder and Zook led the Carroll attack with long-range shots. Yoder hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 17 points. Zook bombed in two from downtown and scored 8.