The Carbon High Girls Basketball team had a flair for dramatic endings this season which saw the team battle back from deficits that seemed almost insurmountable.
That type of play continued through the 3A State Tournament as the Lady Dinos scrapped and clawed their way to the Final Four before finally falling to the Morgan Trojans 56-41 on Friday afternoon, ending their unique and exciting run this season.
The Trojans took the lead from the opening tip, going on an 8-0 run before the Lady Dinos finally got on the board with two Jerika Morgan free throws. Morgan, a senior for the Lady Dinos, scored 10 of her team-high 12 points in the first half to help Carbon cut the deficit down to 29-15 at halftime.
However, the Trojans withstood the Carbon run using their outside shooting to keep adding to their lead which saw Carbon never get within five points through the rest of the game.
The Lady Dinos continued to battle over the final minutes but the Trojans pulled away and put the game out of reach to advance to the 3A State Championship game against Juan Diego, who eventually walked away the 3A Champion on Saturday morning.
CHS Head Coach Ted Bianco said after the game that the team left too many points at the free throw which hurt the team in the second half as the Trojans began to take full control of the game.
“They didn’t miss their free throws and we knew they could really shoot the ball,” Bianco told KUSA’s FM 100’s Frank Ori after the game.
Bianco credited his team with breaking through the barrier of the 3A Quarterfinals which had been the case in each from 2012-14 where the Lady Dinos had an early exit from each tournament.
“We finally got the monkey off our back with the win over Stansbury,” Bianco said.
In yet another close game in the 3A Quarterfinals, the Carbon High Girls Basketball team held on for a 50-48 win in overtime over Stansbury in the 3A Quarterfinals at the Maverick Center in West Valley City on Thursday afternoon.
It was just another down-to-the-wire game for the Lady Dinos who used plenty of big plays down the stretch including game tying free throws by junior Jordan Scoggins late in regulation and two more in the final seconds of overtime to put Carbon ahead for good as the final seconds ticked off the scoreboard.
CHS forward Jerika Morgan had a big basket and foul she converted to help give CHS 45-43 OT lead with 3:13 left. After falling behind Stansbury, Scoggins hit two free throws to tie the game at 48-48 with 39.2 left. Scoggins added two more free throws to help win the game as Stansbury’s last shot came up short of the basket as CHS bench ran onto the court in celebration of the win.
Scoggins finished with her best performance of the season going 7-of-15 from the floor, including four 3-pointers, and 10-for-14 from the free throw line to finish with a season best 28 points. She also added a team-high six steals on defense.
Carbon trailed early before finally making a run to take the lead later in the second quarter thanks to plays from Beth Child, Taylor Oliver and others. Stansbury’s Rachel Prescott, who helped her team beat Uintah last week on a buzzer beating 3-pointer, left the game in the first quarter after injuring her ankle on a drive. She returned later in the second quarter and hitting a 3-pointer to give Stansbury a 24-21 lead heading into halftime.
Carbon’s Lindsey Blanc came out of the game after injuring her knee on a breakaway play in the third quarter but she returned a short time later. Scoggins continued to help drive the CHS offense to a 34-29 lead, their biggest of the game. However, Prescott hit a 3-pointer before the buzzer to tie the game at 36-36 heading into the final quarter.
Blanc returned to the game and hit a breakaway layup to cut the deficit to 40-39 with 1:31 to go and Scoggins added a steal off an inbound pass to later tie the game at 42-42 with 30.6 seconds left in regulation.
Carbon High got a steal on Stansbury’s final play in regulation but Scoggins’ shot on the other end was just short sending the game to overtime.
Bianco said the team’s run to the final four of 3A was a great accomplishment and the product of hard work by a strong senior class and a team effort.
“Our seniors will be dearly missed,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll be back in this spot next season.”
Carbon High finished the season as Region 12 Champions and had an overall record of 17-8 and a 6-2 mark in Region 12 play.
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