Staff report

HARRISBURG — Carson’s third-seeded girls beat No. 6 seed Robinson, 51-46, in a first-round game in the South Piedmont Conference Tournament on Tuesday.
The game was played as part of a doubleheader at Hickory Ridge. The teams had split their regular-season meetings.
Olivia Gabriel made a 3-pointer, shot 11-for-17 from the foul line and scored 24 points to lead the Cougars. McKenzie Gadson battled for 12 points on the boards and was 6-for-8 at the foul line.
Carson (15-10) led 17-6 after the first quarter.
“We caused turnovers, we got to the foul line, and we executed our offense,” Carson coach Brooke Misenheimer said. “It was a great start.”
But Robinson (9-14) got back in the game in the second quarter, cutting Carson’s lead to 23-21 at the break.
“We kind of took the second quarter off,” Misenheimer said.
Carson traded buckets in the third quarter, and then finished strong.
“We were only decent in the third quarter, but we really executed well in the fourth quarter,” Misenheimer said. “We showed some patience.”
Jessie Koerner led the Bulldogs with 15 points. Asia Boulware scored 10.
Carson did a good job against high-scoring freshman guard Jada McMillan and held her to eight points.
“We were able to stay in front of her and we made her take jump shots,” Misenheimer said.
Carson had a rough stretch when it had some injuries, but the Cougars have won five of their last six games.
Carson plays second-seeded Hickory Ridge tonight in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal at Cox Mill. That game will follow a contest between top-seeded West Rowan and No. 4 seed Concord.
Carson has lost twice to Hickory Ridge, but the second meeting was close. Carson missed a ton of free throws in a 68-60 loss.

ROBINSON (46) — Koerner 15, Boulware 10, McMillan 8, Glass 4, Misenheimer 4, Jordan 4, Davis 1, D. Johnson, A. Johnson.
CARSON (51) — Gabriel 24, Gadson 12, Shumaker 5, Wiggins 4, Ketchie 4, Street 2, Taylor, Turney, Fesperman.

Robinson 6 15 11 14 — 46
Carson 17 6 13 15 — 51