By David Shaw
dshaw@salisburypost.com
STATESVILLE ó It was a night for Carson’s girls basketball team to ponder the question “What if?”
Two weeks before Christmas, the Cougars were in a giving mood in Friday’s 62-55 loss at Statesville.
“We had 32 turnovers and we missed nine free throws,” coach Brooke Misenheimer said. “And we still gave them a good game. Imagine if we had taken better care of the ball and made some of those free throws.”
Carson (2-6, 0-1 NPC) has a weekend to think about it. Now riding their second three-game losing streak of the season, the Cougars spent much of the night doing all the right things.
“We need to play a complete game,” senior Kaylene Livengood said after shooting 5-for-6 from the field and topping all scorers with 16 points. “We had different girls stepping up at different times. But we need everyone to play together and play well.”
That’s exactly what Carson did in the opening five minutes. Livengood buried a couple of 3-pointers and teammate Demya Heggins came off the bench and drilled another from the top of the key, lifting the Cougars to a 17-7 lead. “We were feeling pretty good about ourselves ó and about our chances,” Misenheimer said.
“That felt great,” added Heggins, who contributed 14 points and two steals. “We’ve never had Statesville 10 points down. But we were working hard as a unit.”
The work stoppage came in the second and third quarters, when Statesville (3-3, 1-0) transformed its early deficit into a 41-32 advantage. It grew to 58-45 when the hosts’ Shaneka Harvey hit a putback with 1:58 to play.
A pair of free throws ó sandwiched around a pair of missed free throws ó and a set shot by Heggins cut the gap to nine points with 40 seconds remaining. Then came Allison Blackwell’s three-point play and a Livengood 3-pointer ó her third of the game ó that drew Carson within 60-55 with 13 seconds to go.
“That’s what I liked about this game,” Misenheimer said. “We kept fighting and fighting, right until the end. But 32 turnovers hurt us. That’s how you put yourself in poor position to win a ballgame.”
carson (55) ó K.Livengood 16, Heggins 14, Phillips 10, Blackwell 7, M.Livengood 4, Settlemyer 2, Brown 2, Dulkoski, Cloninger, Alexander, Monroe.statesville (62) ó Williams 14, Parker 13, Watts 11, Renwick 6, Harvey 6, Brown 6, Bradley 4, Sherrill 2.
Carson 17 9 9 20 ó 55
Statesville 13 17 13 19 ó 62