By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS ó Every win is precious to Carson’s girls basketball program, and the Cougars were all smiles after holding off NPC opponent Northwest Cabarrus 46-42 in “The Pit” on Thursday.
The Cougars, who snapped a 13-game losing streak, turned the ball over 31 times and made only two field goals in the second half, but coach Brooke Misenheimer wasn’t concerned with the stat sheet.
“Not pretty, by any means, but the girls deserved a win,” she said. “They’ve kept coming in every day, they’ve kept working, and we are improving.”
It was the fourth win in three seasons for the Cougars, who broke a school offensive record with 52 points in Friday’s loss to North Iredell.
Demya Heggins, Jazzmin Brown and Chloe Monroe scored 11 points each for the Cougars.
Heggins’ night summed things up for the Cougars (2-14, 1-10). She got all of her points on free throws.
That’s one thing the Cougars really do well. They were 27-for-39 from the foul line, and they attacked the basket aggressively to earn most of those free-throw attempts.
The Cougars began very shakily, but Brown got them started offensively, and they led 9-5 after a quarter. They shot 8-for-10 on free throws in the second quarter to lead 26-15 at halftime.
Carson stretched its lead to 16 points early in the third quarter on a basket by Breckin Settlemyer.
Northwest (4-13, 2-9) closed the gap to 34-30 with 5:28 remaining, but the Cougars settled down after Settlemyer and Heggins went to the line and knocked down both ends of crucial one-and-one opportunities.
“Northwest was starting to scare me, but I was thinking, ‘There’s no way we can let them come back,’ ” Settlemyer said. “Once we had the lead, we wanted to play smart, not jack up shots and get to the foul line. We had confidence we could make our free throws, and it just feels great to win again.”
In the fourth quarter, the Cougars went 14-for-20 at the line.
“This is the first time we’ve ever won two games in a season,” Misenheimer said. “It’s a small step, but right now it’s a step we’ll celebrate.”
CARSON (46) ó Brown 11, Heggins 11, Monroe 11, Settlemyer 6, Marshall 1, Meismer 1, K. Livengood 5, M. Livengood.
NW CABARRUS (42) ó Broome 10, Nazer 9, Hahn 6, Williams 6, Herring 5, Blakely 4, Pethel 2, Johnson, Marburger, Arrington.
Carson 9 17 6 14 ó 46
NWC 5 10 7 20 ó 42