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Girls basketball: Coronado pulls away from Carroll in second half
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
For two-plus quarters, Carroll's girls basketball team matched scores with the No. 5 team in the state, Lubbock Coronado.
But the Lady Dragons couldn't keep pace in the second half, as the Lady Mustangs pulled away for a 62-48 victory to eliminate Carroll for the second consecutive season.
"We just couldn't trade buckets with them in the second half," said Teri Morrison, Carroll head coach. "I thought we came in with a good plan and were up three at halftime. But we just couldn't score or get enough stops in the fourth quarter. We gave a great effort, though."
Coronado was paced by sisters Suzzy Dimba and Lizzy Dimba, who scored 13 and 12 points, respectively. Bailey Wipff chipped in 12 for the Lady Mustangs.
"[The Dimba's] are really good players but I thought we played them well," Morrison said. "They run a triple-post offense that's really a power package but we managed to hang with them for a while. In the third quarter, it gradually began to slip away and we had to start fouling late."
The Lady Dragons trailed by six with three minutes remaining but couldn't get any closer.
Kami Mickens paced the offense with 18 points, while Madison Drescher and Kennedy Leonard scored 10 apiece. Gretchen Morrison followed with eight points. Leonard also contributed 11 assists for Carroll.
"We were running our system well early and were doing a great job of sharing the ball," Morrison said. "We had a nice balance but in the second half, I think we froze up a little bit and were maybe even a little too unselfish," Morrison said. "We weren't sharing the ball as well but when we got a good shot, we didn't always take it. We needed a little more scoring from everyone."
Morrison added the team adjusted well on the boards in the first half but gave up too many second-chance points in the final two quarters.
Looking ahead, Carroll graduates just two seniors and will look to reach at least the third round of the postseason for a fourth consecutive season.
"It's always good to not go backwards," Morrison said. "The girls did a great job to get back to the third round. We'll lose Kami and Danielle (Lepicier), but we have four starters returning. We'll keep trucking to next year."
But the Lady Dragons couldn't keep pace in the second half, as the Lady Mustangs pulled away for a 62-48 victory to eliminate Carroll for the second consecutive season.
"We just couldn't trade buckets with them in the second half," said Teri Morrison, Carroll head coach. "I thought we came in with a good plan and were up three at halftime. But we just couldn't score or get enough stops in the fourth quarter. We gave a great effort, though."
Coronado was paced by sisters Suzzy Dimba and Lizzy Dimba, who scored 13 and 12 points, respectively. Bailey Wipff chipped in 12 for the Lady Mustangs.
"[The Dimba's] are really good players but I thought we played them well," Morrison said. "They run a triple-post offense that's really a power package but we managed to hang with them for a while. In the third quarter, it gradually began to slip away and we had to start fouling late."
The Lady Dragons trailed by six with three minutes remaining but couldn't get any closer.
Kami Mickens paced the offense with 18 points, while Madison Drescher and Kennedy Leonard scored 10 apiece. Gretchen Morrison followed with eight points. Leonard also contributed 11 assists for Carroll.
"We were running our system well early and were doing a great job of sharing the ball," Morrison said. "We had a nice balance but in the second half, I think we froze up a little bit and were maybe even a little too unselfish," Morrison said. "We weren't sharing the ball as well but when we got a good shot, we didn't always take it. We needed a little more scoring from everyone."
Morrison added the team adjusted well on the boards in the first half but gave up too many second-chance points in the final two quarters.
Looking ahead, Carroll graduates just two seniors and will look to reach at least the third round of the postseason for a fourth consecutive season.
"It's always good to not go backwards," Morrison said. "The girls did a great job to get back to the third round. We'll lose Kami and Danielle (Lepicier), but we have four starters returning. We'll keep trucking to next year."
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