Girls Basketball
Final Scores: 82-71 Carroll, 33-31 Homestead
When the regular season concluded last weekend, Carroll had completed an unbeaten season in conference play and a 23-2 record overall. They never seemed to let up and rattled off 18 straight as they headed into sectionals. However, the regular season is one thing. Once you’re faced with elimination, it’s a whole new ballgame. So when Carroll was set to face Snider for a sectional title, just one week removed from a nailbiter against the Panthers, it was clear that they were going to need another gargantuan effort to overcome Snider.
As expected, things stayed tight throughout the first half, but Snider got out to a lead at the end of the first quarter. Johnea Donahue would finish with a game-high 24 points. She, along with Destini Craig and Destiny Jackson, turned the game into a track meet with points in transition helping Snider avoid Carroll’s press defense. But the Panthers were never able to pull away and the Chargers knotted the game at 43 as they headed into the break.
Coming out of halftime, not much had changed. The teams traded points as the intensity ramped up. However, there was a theme starting to emerge. While Carroll did very well at the free throw line, Snider struggled, coming away with only 1 make on 2 attempts for too often as they approached the final minutes. But even those misses didn’t help Carroll to take control. Instead, it was Carroll’s defense, forcing turnovers, that would launch the Chargers to a decisive victory.
“We needed the energy on the bench and we got it,” Emily Parrett said. “We talked on defense. We were energetic and that’s what happens.”
Very few have been more active on defense than Parrett, averaging 2.4 steals per game. Because of Parrett and her teammates, Carroll’s opportunistic defense has been one of their greatest strengths this season. Parrett would finish with 20 points, just behind Taylor Fordyce with a team-high 21 points. The Lady Chargers have not had to lean on any one player. Their unselfish play is what has allowed them to be so dominant. Any one player on this team is capable of dropping 20 any given night.
However, it doesn’t hurt to have a player that you can lean on. Just ask Homestead after Ayanna Patterson scored 21 of the Spartans 33 points en route to a comeback victory. In a much lower scoring game, Homestead trailed South Side 24-9 at halftime. They didn’t waste any time getting back into it, opening the half on a 12-0 run. That run would last the length of the third quarter, meaning they didn’t allow the Archers to score a single point in the third quarter. Homestead would finish the job in the fourth, winning their sectional matchup over South Side by a score of 33-31.
For Homestead, this makes it 3 in a row and their 7th sectional in 8 years, an incredible feat for Coach Rod Parker’s program. Carroll would also extend their streak of sectionals championships to 5, as each team now looks ahead to regionals.
