By David Shaw

Salisbury Post

MOORESVILLE — One step forward and two steps back.

That was Brooke Misenheimer’s take on Carson’s latest debacle — a 65-17 loss at Lake Norman on Friday.

“I’m afraid there aren’t many positives,” the first-year coach said after the first-year Cougars stumbled to 0-15 overall and 0-7 in the NPC. “We were coming off one of our best games. But right from the jump ball, it’s like we were a second too slow on everything.”

Lake Norman turned the opening tip into an uncontested layup en route to scoring the game’s first 16 points.

“We play pretty good primary defense,” winning coach Dave Walla said. “And we put a lot of pressure on them. They’re a young team over there, and maybe they haven’t seen that kind of pressure.”

Carson — which nearly gained a stop-the-presses win against Mooresville earlier this week — was quickly vaporized. If Wednesday’s 34-33 setback was music to their ears, this one sounded like musicians dropping their instruments.

“We didn’t flow. We didn’t go together,” senior Mackenzie White said. “We came out and played with no effort at all.”

White was Carson’s “It” girl — there was her, and that was it. She scored eight points, well below her season average, but no one else netted more than two.

Lake Norman (13-4, 6-1 NPC) placed five scorers in double figures, led by freshman Kasey Haynes with 12 points. Her 3-pointer from the left side gave the Wildcats a 31-6 lead shortly before halftime.

“Defensively, we’re not moving,” Misenheimer griped. “We’re not moving well at all. We’re flat-footed. We’re not sprinting to get things covered. Granted, (Lake Norman) can shoot the lights out of the ball, which doesn’t help. But our effort’s got to be there. And tonight our effort wasn’t there.”

It may be best to file this loss in the “Growing Pains” folder. Walla certainly understands what Misenheimer and the Cougars are going through.

“I empathize with them,” he said. “Five years ago we were a new school and feeling the same way. It takes time to come together in the beginning.”

Walla believes Carson first needs to improve its defense.

“I already love their point guard (White),” he said. “She’s a beautiful player. And fundamentally, their coach is doing all the right things. They just haven’t been doing them long enough.”

Those are promising words from a respected colleague, something Misenheimer will take comfort in hearing.

“Right now we’re asking our girls to give us everything they’ve got,” she said. “We’re taking things one quarter at a time and playing hard. We’re not demanding that they get a certain number of wins or anything like that. All we ask is that they bust their tails every second they’re out there.

“We didn’t get that tonight. That was a huge problem. We used a lot of players because we were looking for five who wanted to go out there and compete.”

CARSON (17) — White 8, Bell 2, Howell 2, Brown 2, Whitley 2, Lynn 1, Hough, Cress, Curtindale, S.Marshall, Beaty, Stewart.

LAKE NORMAN (65) — Haynes 12, Hammond 11,Abernathy 10, l.Marshall 10, Mannion 10, Moffett 7, Matlock 4, Shalvey 1.

Carson 2 6 3 6 — 17

L. Norman 16 17 22 10 — 65

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Contact David Shaw at dshaw@salisburypost.com.