By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
GRANITE QUARRY ó Carson’s Chloe Monroe lost a sneaker in the first quarter and giggled as she fumbled her first attempt to replace it, but that was the sole source of comic relief for the Cougars.East Rowan honored seniors Ashley Collins and Katelynne Poole, the first set of 1,000-point classmates in school history, and blistered Carson 71-17 on Monday.
Collins and Poole played on losing teams as varsity freshmen and sophomores, but they keyed a 19-10 season as juniors. They’ve led East to 15 wins ó and counting ó as seniors.
“Those two helped make us a winning program again, and I’m in awe of them as the best leaders I’ve ever had,” East coach Karen Garmon said.
“The thing now is for us to keep the fire we had tonight burning. We don’t want this season to end.”
Collins scored 15 points while Poole had 14, carving up Carson on fastbreaks as well as halfcourt sets.
It quickly got ugly for the Cougars (2-20, 1-16 NPC). Alaina Vanderford splashed two wide-open 3s right out of the gate, and East went on a 14-0 run for a 17-3 lead.
Monroe was the only Cougar to hit two field goals in a first half that ended with the Carson trailing 37-10. It had more turnovers (18) than shot attempts (17) in the half, and most of those attempts were from long range.
“We took two shots in the paint the whole first half,” coach Brooke Misenheimer said. “It was like we took everything we learned this year and threw it away. We took a step back. It was just a terrible display of basketball.”
Aliyah Khan saved the Cougars from breaking the school record for fewest points in a game when she connected on a 10-footer with 1:24 remaining.
East (15-7, 13-4) played reserves for sizeable chunks of the third and fourth quarters. Sophomore Olivia Rankin had 12 points, and Collins produced six of East’s 19 steals.
There were lots of balloons, banners and chest-bumps as the Mustangs celebrated two seniors who have combined for 2,146 points.
“This is the best team I’ve been on, so tonight was really kind of emotional and sad,” Poole said. “But we’re trying to go out with a bang.”
CARSON (17) ó Brown 5, Monroe 4, K. Livengood 3, Sellers 3, Khan 2, Ciscel, Meismer, Settlemyer, Heggins.
EAST ROWAN (71) ó Collins 15, Poole 14, Rankin 12, Vanderford 6, File 6, Honeycutt 6, Holshouser 4, Means 4, Drew 2, Sabo 2, Corpening.
Carson 5 5 3 4 ó 17
East Rowan 19 18 16 18 ó 71