LEBANON — Top seed Carroll reeled off a 27-0 scoring run through the game’s first 11 minutes, and had the Mercy Rule running game clock in effect midway through the third quarter, in a 53-15 defeat of no. 12 seeded Brookville, Feb. 18 in the Division II sectional girls high school basketball tournament at Lebanon High.
The Patriots (19-5) led 18-0 after the first quarter of play, and so Carroll coach Cecelia Grosselin was able to sub multiple players in and out of the lineup.
“We told the girls to work on the little things. … Our focus was just getting everyone in, to give some tournament experience for some of the back-up players,” Grosselin said. “Things like boxing out, getting position on the rebound, good passes, sharing the ball. Those types of things.”
Of the 12 players listed in the Carroll scorebook, 10 of them scored at least a point in the win.
Sarah Ochs led the team in scoring with 13 points. Takierra Robinson scored eight second-half points, Ava Lickliter scored seven first-half points, Jillian Roberts and Julia Keller each scored six, while Charlotte Roble (one), Donna Lawhorn (three), Natalie Ryan (two), Allie Stefanek (four) and Megan Leraas (three) combined for 13. Breigh Vanmeter and Samantha Kilfoyle also saw playing time.
“Takierra Robinson came off the bench and did a nice job for us, and Jillian Roberts knocked down some big threes for us. I thought they both had a great game for us tonight,” Grosselin said.
The Carroll starters did not play in the fourth quarter.
In two sectional tournament games so far, the Patriots have outscored Marshall and Brookville by a combined 115-23.
Brookville (2-16) was out-matched, but they definitely were not out-hustled. The Blue Devils played hard throughout the contest, despite the lopsided score.
“They played very hard. It’s so good to see a team, even though they’re down, playing hard and hustling after every ball to the very end,” Grosselin said. “That was nice to see from them.”
Blue Devils senior Bailyn Kimberlin led the team with seven points scored. Emma Hinton scored four points, while teammates Jaclyn Fye and Jessica Brown each scored two. Kimberlin and Brown are the only seniors listed on Brookville’s team this season.
Carroll awaits a familiar Greater Catholic League Co-Ed foe for its sectional final game at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24. The Patriots will take on either fourth seeded Hamilton Badin or no. 5-seed Middletown Fenwick. The Patriots claimed a pair of regular-season wins over Badin, but Fenwick surprised Carroll with a win on the Patriots’ home floor back on Jan. 8.
Grosselin wasn’t hedging whether she favored seeing one team or the other for her next game.
“They’re both great teams. They’re both tough, and we’ll have to be ready to play our best against either one of them,” she said.
It turns out that Badin will be the Patriots’ next foe. The Rams defeated Fenwick by a score of 36-34, in Tuesday night’s second game.
