By Marny Hendrick
sports@salisburypost.com
LANDIS — Carson head coach Brooke Misenheimer knows what it feels like to be 0-11 and now she can bask in the glow of an 11-0 mark for this current season.
The Lady Cougar juggernaut used a swarming defense and balanced offensive attack to overwhelm county rival South Rowan last nigt, 78-39.
“I don’t think you ever have a complete game, “ Misenheimer noted, “ But we had a really great first quarter and got off to the kind of start we needed.”
A great first quarter was putting it mildly for the winners as they scored the first 12 points, led 26 to 2 after one period and had more than enough points to win by halftime 45-10.
While top scorer Kelly Dulkoski was solid once again with 23 points and great defense, the true ignition for the Lady Cougar engine on this night was senior guard Chloe Monroe. Right out of the gate, Monroe hit a pair of long threes, made three steals and hit another jumper for good measure. She finished the night with 19 and a half dozen takeaways.
“This was one of our best starts of the season,” Monroe s aid as she deflected attention from her own accomplishements. “ We came out and got after them from the get-go. Our defense is really improved.”
To their credit, the host Lady Raiders (4-7, 1-3) ignored the huge early deficit and continued to battle until the end.
“We showed a lot of character especially in the second half, “ South coach Jarrod Smith noted. “we never backed down to them but we just made too many mistakes.”
Carson improved to 11-0 for the season and 3-0 in the North Piedmont Conference. They got a truly balanced effort from their entire line-up as Sarah Holman and Allison Blackwell scored 10 as did forward Alex Allen coming off the bench.
They also enjoyed a large advantage at the foul line as they hit 18 of 35 chances. Most of them came in the final period as Carson expanded a 60-26 lead to the final 39 point margin.
The win also assured Carson of the top seed in the girl’s bracket of the Sam Moir Christmas tournament next week at Catawba College. South will be the 6th see4d but they still have one more non-conference game tonight at home against J.M. Robinson.
For Misemheimer, the 11-0 perfect mark thus far is good for many reasons because it means they are acheieving many of their team goals…”Plus we do like to win”
CARSON (78) — Dulkoski 23, Monroe 19, Holman 10, Blackwell 10, Allen 10, Phillips 4, Barringer 2, Cole, Parks, Stirewalt.
SOUTH ROWAN (39) — Miller 14, Locklear 10, L. Corriher 5, K. Corriher 3, Deal 3, Register 2, Allison 2, Jones, McConneaughey, Coley, Honeycutt, McCoy.
Carson 26 19 13 20 — 78
S. Rowan 2 8 16 13 — 39