The Carroll Tigers saw their season come to an end Wednesday night in a less than desirable second half against Lewis Central. What is normally not a three pointer team, the Tigers would start off the contest going shot for shot against the Titans, scoring three three-pointers in the first quarter. The Tigers and Titans kept the first quarter close, but the Tigers were able to win the first quarter with a score of 21-18. The Titans, though, would switch up their defensive scheme often in the second quarter, making it hard for the Tigers to move the ball effectively on offense. Both teams would have struggles scoring baskets in the second quarter, with the score standing at 29-27 for almost five minutes. The Titans would take advantage of their three trips to the free throw line, making three of their six, while the Tigers missed their only free throws in the quarter. The Titans would be down 31-30 before they would make a last second layup to secure a 32-31 lead at halftime.
Ella Collison hit a pair of free throws with 40 seconds left to put the Tigers ahead 53-51. Carroll had trailed the entire game before rallying for the win. Carroll was down by 6 at the end of the 1
st quarter and trailed by 8 at half. The rally began early in the 4
th wen then Tigers scored 4 points in 4 seconds to cut the deficit to 41-36. The gap closed to 48-46 when Carroll scored with 2:35 to play. The Carroll defense needed to make another play and did causing a Wildcat turnover with 22 seconds left and Caroll up 2. Carroll was down by as many as 14 when the defense began to force turnovers helping to ignite the rally.
In a game that came down to the wire, the Carroll Tigers were unable to come back and win on Saturday against Winterset. The day for the Tigers started off slower than they would have liked it, unable to get shots to fall for them. Winterset used the Tigers’ slow start to go up 12-2 in the first quarter and end up at 31-20 at halftime.
The second half for the Tigers was much improved as they started to chip away at the Huskies lead. The Tigers would go on a 9-4 run to start the third quarter and would end up down three at 38-35. Kennedy Lein and Gabi Hammer were the two taking charge and attacking the basket against Jena Young for Winterset in the third to get them down three heading into the fourth quarter. The Tigers had the chance to take back the lead in the fourth quarter, being down by one point multiple times. Head coach Katie Kock says her team had great looks in this quarter, but were unable to sink in the crucial shots to gain the lead. The Tigers would be down
Carroll hung tough for the 1
st half but for the second time this season Ballard was able to pull away in the 2
nd half. Kennedy Lein helped spark the Tigers early as Carroll got up 5-2 and 6-4. Ballard grabbed their first lead at 8-6 and didn’t trail again but Carroll only trailed 14-11 after the 1
st quarter. Carroll pulled within 17-13 early in the 2
nd quarter and the lead remained around 6 points until Ballard scored just before half to take a 21-13 lead into the locker room. The Tigers struggled coming out in the 3
rd quarter and Ballard took advantage outscoring them 22-9 in the quarter to lead by 21 heading to the 4
Carroll received a good defensive effort on the road and used a pair of 3’s in the 2
nd quarter to improve to 6-5 overall and 4-5 in the Raccoon River Conference. The Tigers have won 3 straight to start the 2
nd half of the season. Gabi Hammer and Laura Sweeney knocked down some big 3’s in the 2
nd quarter as Carroll rallied from down 3 at the end of the 1
st quarter to take the lead for good at 23-20 at half.
Ella Collison led the way in the win with 11 points.
Carroll will be Glibert on KIKD 106.7 on Friday.
Carroll Stats