Ivy Pembrook battles for an offensive rebound against North Valleys on Tuesday night.
The game was there for the taking, but Carson High’s girls couldn’t get a key stop or a key basket in the waning moments of the game.
North Valleys scored five straight points in the final 27 seconds to edge Carson, 61-56, Tuesday night in a Division I crossover game at Morse Burley Gym.
Carson dropped to 7-8 overall and 2-3 in league play entering Friday’s road game at McQueen.
This was tightly contested throughout. The biggest lead either team had the entire game was seven points. North Valleys led 33-26 at the half, and Carson led 47-40 with 7:05 left in the contest.
The Panthers used a 13-4 surge to wipe out the 47-40 deficit and take a 53-51 lead with 2:17 left. Carson went 2-for-14 and turned the ball over three times in that stretch.
Carson pulled to within one point twice, 53-52 and 55-54, on a free throw by Bailey Allen and a basket by Ivy Pembrook, the latter coming with 1:19 left. After NV’s Nikki Hammon made a free throw with 25.5 left, Michelle Perry roared down the lane for a bucket, tying the game at 56. Sami Dinan put the Panthers ahead to stay moments later with a basket, and then added a free throw to make it 59-56 following a Carson turnover. Tyler Rivera, who led NV with 13 points, followed in Hammon’s missed free throw to put the finishing touches on the Panthers’ win.
After the contest, Carson coach Nate Tolbert admitted he should have done things differently.
“I should have called timeout after Michelle’s basket,” he said. “I don’t think she scored too quickly. We wanted two points in that situation. I had a feeling we wouldn’t be able to get back on defense.
“We didn’t have legs (late). We were a little tired. We didn’t get much from our bench other than Bailey (Allen), and that’s not typical for us. They shot 33 free throws and we shot 17. They outscored us 15-7 at the line. That is what happens when you play defense with your hands (and not your feet).”
Carson scored 16 bench points, eight of those coming from diminutive Bailey Allen. The junior point guard scored five of her eight points in a little over two minutes late in the third quarter, wiping out a 39-33 deficit and giving the Senators a 40-39 advantage with 1:02 left in the third period.
“Bailey has come a long way on the break (in Southern California),” Tolbert said. “That is why she is playing so much more. She gave us a spark.”
North Valleys tied the game at 40, but two free throws by Perry made it 42-40 after three.
A 3-pointer by Madison Preston and two more free throws by Perry gave Carson its biggest lead of the game, 47-40. North Valleys outscored the Senators 21-9 in the final seven minutes to earn the win.
Preston led Carson with 15 points and Perry added nine. Teresa Boehmer added six points and 12 rebounds.
“Teresa was probably our best player tonight,” Tolbert said. “She had 12 rebounds and only had two turnovers. We did turn the ball over 29 times which might have been a season high.”