Staff report

CHINA GROVE — There was no Gatorade bath for Chloe Monroe following her first win as Carson’s head girls basketball coach, but she did get soaking wet.

“The team hosed me down with their water bottles,” Monroe said with a laugh, after the Cougars ended the program’s 17-game losing streak that began late in the 2022-23 season.

Monroe deserved a good laugh. There was a long wait for the first-year coach’s breakthrough win, but Carson defeated Statesville 51-45 on Wednesday in a non-conference game.

Carson (1-13) came into the game 56th in the 3A West RPI rankings out of 59 teams.

Statesville (1-13) was 49th. The Cougars will move up a few spots when rankings are updated to include this surprising result.

Carson’s previous best offensive night had been 38 points against North Rowan in the Christmas tournament. The low for the Cougars was scoring just nine against towering Robinson.

So 50-something points was a wild and crazy night. A lot of it was freshman Rylee Hedrick. Her career high had been 13. She scored 23 against the Greyhounds.

Statesville nailed some 3-pointers in the first half. Carson fell behind by 10 points.

“We made some defensive adjustments and got it back down to three at halftime,” Monroe said.

It was 27-24 at the break.

Then the Cougars had a big third quarter, outscored the Greyhounds 16-7 and took a 40-34 lead.

Carson was able to maintain that lead in the fourth quarter.

“We made some big free throws in the fourth quarter,” Monroe said. “The biggest change tonight was we were finally able to score some points in transition. They pressed us, but we did a lot better job of seeing the floor when we were pressed, and Rylee had one heck of a game.”

Emma Carpenter  (8), Julia Burleson (7), Laila Furr (6), Brooklyn McBride (5) and Leana Baldwin (3) also scored for the Cougars.