CHINA GROVE — Even the Grinch, that green Christmas creature with a heart two sizes too small, would have felt some sympathy for Mount Pleasant’s girls.

People walking into the Carson gym at halftime of Thursday’s game saw some scary numbers on the scoreboard: Home 43, Guest 5.

No records were set and no feelings were hurt mostly because Carson coach Brooke Misenheimer understands one-sided games. She was on the wrong side of them often when she was building Carson’s program.

She understands Mount Pleasant’s Neil Pifer is trying to build his own program, and Carson settled for a 64-26 victory in a game in which Carson could have virtually named the score.

“ You see those awful scores like 107-2 (that one happened in Indiana this week), and you’re just glad that with Brooke Misenheimer you don’t have to legislate class,” Mount Pleasant coach Neil Pifer said. “She has a very talented team, but she gave all of her kids a lot of minutes.”

Mount Pleasant (0-6) was able to walk out of the gym with some positives. The Tigers won the third quarter and they tied the Cougars 21-21 in the second half.

“Our whole team got a lot of opportunities,” Misenheimer said. ‘Everyone got involved.”

Mount Pleasant’s first — and last — lead was 1-0 on a free throw by Ally Hunt.

Carson (7-1) got off to a dismal start, missing its first seven shots, and Misenheimer called a timeout.

“Our intensity was low,” Misenheimer said. “There’s no reason it should take us three minutes to get into a game.”

Katherine Barringer made a layup to end the drought, and that started an 11-0 run that included a 3-ball by Kate Cole.

“We picked up the intensity and ran the floor better,” Cole said. “This was a good test for us as far as keeping our focus.”

Allison Blackwell had 11 rebounds and 16 points, pushing her career points total to 925.

Cole and Kelly Dulkoski scored 13 each. Megan Gray tied her career best with seven.

“You watch Carson warm up and you think they’ll be OK, but it surprises you how good they are,” Pifer said. “They’ve got three girls that can take you off the dribble.”

MT. PLEASANT (26) — Hunt 7, Rhinehardt 6, Gill 5, Harper 4, Bost 2, Wade 2, Coley, Koldsbaek, Ezzell, Williams.

CARSON (64) — Blackwell 16, Cole 13, Dulkoski 13, Gray 7, Huffman 5, Allen 4, Barringer 4, Clark 2, Vanvoorhis.

Mt. Pleasant 3 2 13 8 — 26
Carson 21 22 8 13 — 64