CARROLL – The Bloom Carroll girls’ basketball team put a clinic on when it came to making an extra pass to get a long shot against the Lakewood visit on Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs’ selflessness paid off when they faced the Lancers 12-0 and never looked back on a convincing 67-34 win without a conference at Tom Petty High School.
Bloom-Carroll (6-1) did the most damage from the three-point line, and of the Bulldogs 25 field goals, 14 came from outside the arch. Four different players, including Reese Pittman, Marissa Wilkinson, Emily Bratton, and Sophia Haughn, had at least two 3-pointers, with Pittman at the top with five Treys and Wilkinson with four.
“The coach always tells us to take A-plus shots instead of A-shots, which is exactly the mentality we need to have,” said Pittman. “It’s always nice to start quickly because it gives you momentum and brings the other team on your heels, and we were able to do that because we were able to achieve great looks.”
Bratton, a stellar runner-up who is at the heart of every opposing team’s defense, led the way with 20 points, including 15 in the first half. She added six assists, four rebounds and had two 3-pointers.
Pittman finished the race with 17 points and five assists, Wilkinson had 12 points and Haugh knocked down two 3s and added eight points.
“We know every team thinks if (Bratton) is out or they close, we’re going to fight, but that’s not the case this year,” said Pittman. “All five girls on the floor can do a lot with the ball, including passing and shooting, and that makes us a more complete team.”
Bloom Carroll coach AJ Ireland was pleased with his team’s selflessness but did not surprise him.
“We have good players who have worked on their game in the off-season and it is paying off,” said Ireland. “I thought we moved the ball really well to get this good look. We put up hard screens, we played well as a team and that helped us get open shots and we have good shooters to knock them down. “
“We want to turn A-shots into A-plus shots, and we focus on that every day in practice and forego good looks in order to get great looks.”
Lakewood trainer Rob Compton was more than impressed, especially how well the Bulldogs moved the ball.
“(Bloom-Carroll) got off to a quick start and we were peddling again from that point,” said Compton. “They did a really good job distributing the floor, they are an extremely selfless team, and they got great shots, not good ones. They were patient and their stuff went great.
“They are much better in person than when you see them in the film. I thought that we could score on the inside with our size, but we didn’t take advantage of that, but their defense is so aggressive that it was sometimes difficult for us to take a good look inside. “
Bloom-Carroll was leading 14-2 at the end of the first quarter and then made four threes in the second quarter to extend his lead to 34-8 at halftime.
To the credit of the Lancers, they got out of the fight in the third quarter and outperformed the Bulldogs with 17-14 thanks to five 3-point points. Emma McLean and Addison Pound each made two 3s in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs led 48:25 into the fourth quarter.
Pound led the Lancers (1-3) with seven points, McLean had six points and five rebounds, and Maddy Cline finished with six points. Camryn Martindale added five points and Madison Clem added four points and a team high of seven rebounds.
Tom Wilson is a sports reporter for the Lancaster Eagle Gazette. Contact him at 740-689-5150 or email twilson@gannett.com for comments or story tips. Follow him on Twitter @ twil2323.
