By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com.
OLIN ó Carson’s girls have never beaten North Iredell, and they won’t accomplish that feat until they cut down on the turnovers.
Carson is 0-7 lifetime against the Raiders after losing 58-45 in Olin on Tuesday, and it wasn’t as close as it sounds. NI coasted. It had the NPC matchup sewed up before the fourth quarter began.The Cougars shot 40.0 percent on field goals and 62.5 percent from the foul line, numbers good enough to win. But 35 turnovers made sticking with a good North Iredell team next to impossible.
North Iredell (5-1, 1-0) figured out early it could pressure the Cougars (2-7, 0-2) . Carson had its hands full just getting the ball inbounds.
“Our nemesis is turnovers, and making 35 of them puts you in a tough position ,” Carson coach Brooke Misenheimer said. “We played in spurts, battled hard at times and made comebacks whenever we did. But we needed a complete game to beat them.”In the first quarter, Carson turned it over 16 times while getting off only four shots. That dug a 14-4 hole.
North Iredell got in foul trouble in the second quarter, had to back off a little, and the Cougars had a nice quarter keyed by back-to-back jumpers by Jazzmin Brown and a three-point play by Brittany Alexander. North Iredell led only 24-18 at the half.
North Iredell settled matters by turning the heat back on in the third quarter and creating 10 turnovers. The Raiders outscored Carson 20-6 in the period, with Bri Johnson keying the run. She didn’t scratch in the first half but had 12 points in the third quarter on her way to 16.
Carson put up 21 points in the fourth quarter, including six each by freshmen Tyesha Phillips and Allison Blackwell, but North Iredell was never seriously threatened.
“Our defensive effort the second half was poor,” Misenheimer said. “They scored at will on us.”
carson (45) ó Blackwell 8, Phillips 8, Brown 7, Alexander 7, Dulkoski 6, K. Livengood 4, Settlemyer 2, Heggins 2, M. Livengood 1, Cloninger, Monroe.
North iredell (58) ó Johnson 16, Singletery 11, James 10, Haynes 9, Redmond 9, Haneline 3, Branch, Fox, Robbins.
Carson 4 14 6 21 ó 45
North Iredell 14 10 20 14 ó 58