Cougars Slip Past Hornets, 14-5 on Season

Submitted by Patrick Hickner

After trailing through three and a half quarters, the Carroll Lady Cougars used a Rossville time-out to change the tide of the game and slip into their 14^th victory of the season, 43-38.  The Hornets, leading 33-27 with 4:30 left to play, called a timeout to reset their game-plan.  Coach McCroskey used the same timeout to change the Cougar strategy.  The result was a decisive game-ending 16-5 run for the Cougars.  The points for the Cougars came from 4 different players during the run.  Carroll received five players in the scoring column for the game.  Bailey Worl paced the Cougars with 14 followed by Ragan with 13.  Rossville also placed two players in double figures with Miller at 11 and Virtue-Gamblin with 10.

The game started slowly for both teams.  Carroll began with baskets form Worl and Kingery to build a 4-2 lead 3 minutes into the game.  Rossville responded with a 6-0 run to close the quarter leading 9-4.  The paced picked up in the second quarter with the home team extending their lead to 22-13 at the half.  Carroll struggled to get good looks against the Hornet man-to-man defense.  The Hornets meanwhile were getting baskets from unlikely places.  Rossville used 5 different scorers in the first half to build their lead.  Rossville made 5 long range baskets to help distance themselves from the visiting Cougars.

Carroll changed tactics to open the second half with a man-to-man defense that perplexed the Hornets and caused them to make mistakes.  The Cougars capitalized on the mistakes with a 9-2 run in the first 4 minutes.  A Ragan 3-pointer pulled the Cougars within 24-22.  Six points in the last 3 minutes of the quarter allowed the Hornets to maintain their lead at 28-25 at the break.  Rossville opened the final quarter with a 5-2 run to stay in front 33-27.  Then the ill-fated timeout was called and the Cougars responded.  Kingery had a fielder followed by a 3 from Eller and a fielder for Worl and the Cougars had the lead, 34-33.  Rossville reclaimed the lead at 35-34 with two made free-throws.  Then Carroll closed out the Hornets with a Jackson 3, a Kingery fielder and two freebies while Eller finished the run with her own freebies with 0:13 to play.

Worl added 5 rebounds and Ragan collected 4 rebounds with 2 assists and 2 steals.  Kingery chipped in her usual steady performance with 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.  Eller added 5 points with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals and MaKayla Jackson had 3 points and 3 assists.