Whatever Coach Cami Carlson had to say to her team after the loss to Emery last week was taken to heart. The girls came out focused and made sure they controlled the tempo throughout the game as they downed Juan Diego 54-38 for their final win of the regular season.
In the blink of an eye the Dinos were up 9-0 as the Smith Sisters hit a pair of treys and made three the old-fashion way, with a bucket and a foul. The points came few and far between for the Soaring Eagles. By the break, Carbon held a commanding 10 point lead.
The contest settled down in the second period and each team added 10 to their totals. As the Dinos headed into the locker room, they were sitting on a 26-16 lead. Carlson wanted her team to play strong for all four quarters of the game and so the team came out for the third on fire. Playing a swarming defense and a run and shoot offense, Carbon allowed the lead to grow to 19. In the end it could have been a coast to the finish, but neither team was going to concede the outcome.
Patricia Smith was named player of the game for her overall contributions. She had 3 threes for 17 point and dished out four assists. Samantha Smith also had three threes, 13 points and four steals.
Tia Pappas is making the most of her opportunity to play and hit for eight points, three rebounds and was 4-5 from the line. Erika Potts pulled in four rebounds.
Carlson is glad to see Pappas step up to the challenge and put up some good numbers. “We are going to need her with Julia (Potts) out.” When asked about the unusually quiet night from Megan Garvin, Carlson said that teams have been throwing everything at her to keep her from being open and so she has been passing the ball to open players. Carlson added that they have been working on getting Garvin to step up and challenge the coverage. Because if Carbon is to have a chance against Wasatch, they will need every single player they have to be hitting their shots.
But first the Dinos need to take care of business at home this Friday night as they take on Uintah in the first round. Carbon beat Uintah earlier in the season, but this is the play-offs and any thing can happen. Even Coach Carlson admitted to really needing to work on staying focused on the Friday night game and not thinking ahead to Wasatch.
Tip-off for the first round play-off game will be at 7 p.m. at Carbon High on, Feb 15.
[dfads params='groups=4969&limit=1&orderby=random']
[dfads params='groups=1745&limit=1&orderby=random']