FULTON — The Caston girls basketball team has been in a lot of close games this year, so Carroll unlocked a rare achievement with a blowout win against them Thursday night.
It was all Cougars as they put a damper on the Comets’ senior night with a 58-32 win.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt was an even matchup on paper going in.
“We’ve been in a lot of games this year,” Caston coach Josh Douglass said. “There’s only been a couple, probably this one and Tippy Valley, where we just got our butt kicked. You need that every once in a while. But we’ve been in almost every game. We could really be sitting at 16-6 in all reality instead of 9-12. But that’s signs of we’re still young. We’re all sophomores and juniors and one senior, so we’re still learning. But like I told them in the one timeout, we’re now juniors and seniors, that’s where we’re at in our season. So just put it together.”
The Comets (9-12) honored their two seniors, Camila Hernandez-Rios, a strong defender, and Emily Rodas, a JV player, prior to the game. So they’ll have a lot back next year and are hoping to turn a lot of those close losses into wins. But they still have a lot to accomplish this year as one of the favorites of next week’s Class 1A North White Sectional.
The Cougars (15-6) will be one of the favorites of the Class 1A Bethesda Christian Sectional, where No. 8 Rossville (22-1) looms on the other side of the bracket.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe Cougars showed why against the Comets as their box-and-one and triangle-and-two defenses on Madi Douglass and Grace Colvin really slowed them down.
On the other end of the court, senior forward Jillian Salts and freshman guard Kinleigh Randle went to work. Salts finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists, and Randle scored 14 points to lead the Cougars.
Mady Isley added nine points, Bryleigh Springer scored seven and Eliza Rinehart had five points, nine boards and five assists. Olivia Schroder chipped in five points.
“I think we had a pretty good defensive game plan and truthfully we strung together four straight quarters of solid defense,” Carroll coach Brady Wiles said. “When we play through our defense and focus on one stop at a time, that kind of shows our potential. Caston is very good team, obviously led by one of the better guards in the area and then some really good shooters. I think we’ve got to credit our defense, and we executed.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCarroll seniors Salts and Schroder have been part of a program that has gone 22-4, 20-4, 18-8 and now 15-6 and counting during their high school careers.
There’s two former Cougars still playing basketball: Alli Harness is starting at Western Michigan as a sophomore and Madison Wagner is the sixth player and plays a lot at Trine.
Caston has a similar story from the Class of 2024 as Isabel Scales is the second leading scorer at Bethel and Addison Zimpleman now plays softball at Ball State. They’ve also been able to maintain pretty well in basketball considering what they could accomplish next week.
“We’re building. We’re going to try to steal one this year,” coach Douglass said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMadi Douglass led the Comets with 14 points and four assists. Allison Craig had eight points and four boards. Adyson Steininger had six points on a pair of 3-pointers. Natalie Warner added two points and five boards. Gigi Berry chipped in two points.
The Cougars had the size and speed to bother the Comets a lot and their junk defenses with the triangle and box were effective.
“I knew they were gonna deny Madi hard,” coach Douglass said. “That’s a good game for other girls to step up. And I thought in the first half they weren’t willing to do that. But in the second half, the other players on the team were willing to take the open shots and that’s what they need to do.
“Carroll’s got a lot of foot speed. They’re a lot taller than us at every position. They presented a lot of challenges to us, which I knew they would. We’ve got to do a better job of matching up, getting ready to play and handling physicality.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCarroll led 14-7 after one, 28-15 at halftime and 44-19 after three.
Caston concludes the regular season Saturday afternoon at DeMotte Christian (6-12), a possible Sectional 50 opponent. Caston plays North White (5-14) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the first game of the North White Sectional. The Vikings have won three games in a row entering the sectional.
Carroll plays HHC rival Clinton Prairie (4-16) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Bethesda Christian Sectional in Brownsburg.
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