Carroll Holds On To Beat Clinton Prairie In Girls Basketball Sectional

The Carroll Cougars defeated the Clinton Prairie Gophers 42-41 in an exciting back-and-forth affair heard on WILO.

The first 12 minutes were tight; both teams held leads multiple times in the first half. Carroll was the first to go on an extended run. The Cougars took a 20-12 lead into the halftime break.

In the second half, Clinton Prairie’s Alexis Perez stepped up in a big way. The freshman finished with a game-high 13 points and helped pull the Gophers back into the game.

Carroll’s Emily Justice answered for the Cougars; she knocked down three three-pointers and finished with 13 points.

With two minutes to go, Carroll held a 38-36 advantage. Hyleigh Wilson took a pass and stepped into a three-pointer; she drained it, giving the Gophers their first lead of the second half.

The Clinton Prairie lead, however, was short-lived. On the ensuing possession, the Cougars found Oliva Schroder in the corner and she drilled a three to answer.

After a timeout, with less than a minute remaining, Abbey Swan drew a foul and went to the line for the Gophers. Trailing 41-39, Swan hit both, tying it at 41.

Carroll got the ball and took it under ten seconds. Working to fight through a screen, the Gophers were called for a foul.

Teagan Coveris stepped to the line and hit the first one, giving Carroll the lead with 8.1 seconds left. After Clinton Prairie burned their final timeout, Coveris missed the second. The Gophers raced down the floor, looking to fire off a game-winning shot, but a pass to the inside was poked away and stolen by Jillian Salts.

The Cougars escaped with the victory, avenging their regular season loss to the Gophers.

Carroll stays alive and will play Clinton Central on Friday at 7:30. The winner of that game advances to the Sectional Championship against the winner of Frontier and Rossville. All games of Sectional 54 can be heard on WILO.

 

The broadcast of the Clinton Prairie vs Carroll game was brought to you by:

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