By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
CHINA GROVE — Carson’s girls weren’t at their best, but they still scored 75 points.
That’s an indication the Cougars (3-0) are pretty good.
Despite turning the ball over nine times in the first quarter and missing roughly 20 layups during the course of the game, Carson flattened outmanned — or maybe the correct term is outwomaned — Central Cabarrus 75-41 on Thursday.
“I don’t want to even think about how many easy shots we missed tonight,” Carson coach Brooke Misenheimer said with a sigh. “There are a lot of things we’ve got to get right, a lot of things we’ve got to clean up.”
Sarrah Holman scored a career-best 22 points to lead the Cougars. Kelly Dulkoski scored 19, and Allison Blackwell had her first big game of the season with 17. Tyesha Phillips had 10 rebounds.
With those four producing, the Cougars easily survived an off night by sharpshooter Chloe Monroe, who made just one field goal.
Central (1-2) brought just eight players to China Grove after winning a tough Wednesday night game against West Stanly. That explains why they didn’t have a lot of staying power, but they really got after the Cougars early. The Vikings’ defensive intensity matched that of the Cougars and both teams threw the ball away at an alarming pace.
“A really rough start,” said Dulkoski, Carson’s point guard. “But we were able to get things going at our pace and we started getting out in transition.”
Carson needed a layup from Blackwell to lead 12-10 after a quarter, but the game quickly got away from the Vikings (1-2) early in the second quarter. Monroe and Dulkoski drilled back-to-back 3s to expand the lead to 18-10, and by halftime the Cougars led the tiring visitors, who already had committed 23 turnovers, 34-14.
“I was proud of how hard we played and what we accomplished,” Central coach Scott Fortune said. “But Carson’s a really good team, and there was a key stretch there where we didn’t know who to guard. We gave them some open 3s, and they can shoot.”
Holman’s unreal, 13-point third quarter blew it wide open. She scored eight points in 90 seconds with two 3s and a layup and personally pushed the Cougars ahead by 25.
“Coach told us at halftime we’d missed a bunch of easy shots and we had to focus and start making them,” Holman said. “That’s what we did.”
Carson took care of the ball after the first quarter. It shot 36 percent from the field, but it did make eight 3-pointers.
“Central really challenged us,” Misenheimer said. “But I liked the way we put the game away early in the second half.”
CENTRAL CABARRUS (41) — Hagens 13, Helms 8, Powell 7, South 5, Hubbard 4, Thompson 2, Davis 2, Polk.
CARSON (75) — Holman 22, Dulkoski 19, Blackwell 17, Phillips 6, Monroe 4, Cole 4, Stirewalt 2, Allen 1, Parks.
C. Cab 10 4 12 15 — 41
Carson 12 22 20 21 — 75