| The Lady Dinos Amie Stewart has some tall timber to contend with during the game against Juan Diego on Friday night. |
It is certainly unfamiliar territory for both players and fans of Carbon girls basketball.
For almost a decade, and through two state championships, Carbon has pretty much dominated their region and put a lot of pain on opposing teams at the state tournament in late February.
But this year is a bit different. The pain is going in both directions. And the incoming pain was magnified on Friday night when Juan Diego came to town and left with a 46-35 victory.
Sadly, Carbon had administered an almost similar beating (47-34) to the Soaring Eagles at their own house when they met on Jan. 12.
In Friday’s game the Soaring Eagles jumped on the Lady Dinos early to take a lead they would hold all night. Carbon’s offense was tentative and even when they shot the ball, they were falling short of their mark.
Down by eight in the first quarter, the Dinos showed a bit more confidence in the second quarter and cut the lead by a point.
After a half time pep talk the team seem to remember how to shoot. Carbon’s offense put 16 points on the board and the defense limited the Soaring Eagles to only 10.
With Juan Diego’s lead down to two as the third quarter began, it seemed the Carbon comeback would be complete by the end of the game. But the Lady Dinos couldn’t find the rim and in the end let Juan Diego put the game away. The Soaring Eagles outscored the Dinos by 10 points to finish them off.
Jamie King sunk 11 points to lead the Dinos to their third Region 8 loss. At 5-3 in region play, they now have Juan Diego and Delta breathing down their back at 4-4 for the second place slot in the region. With only two games left in the season, the Lady Dinos also still have to face powerful Emery in the Spartan Center, a team that defeated them handily only a few weeks ago.
There is only one more home game left in the regular season and that is against North Sanpete tonight (Tuesday). North Sanpete is 3-5 in region play and Carbon hopes to add them to their win column for the second time this year.
Carbon will go to state again this year, but obviously the circumstances will be somewhat different than in recent years.
The final show down will be with Emery on Thursday night, a game that most Carbon fans hoped would be one that could tie Carbon with Emery for first place, but now may need to be won to keep a good seeding in the state playoffs.