On a night where leading scorer Eliza Matley struggled mightily from the field, Carson High teammates Emily Collins and Savannah Smith were there to pick up the slack in a big way.
Collins, who went without a field goal earlier this week at Manogue, scored 15 points and Smith added 13 to lead the Senators to a hard-fought 42-39 victory over McQueen Friday night at Morse Burley Gym.
"I just try to play one game at a time, and help the team wherever I can," Collins said after the game. "Eliza is a dangerous 3-point threat, and she kept shooting. I want her to keep shooting. They were paying a lot of attention to her, and I was able to find more openings."
Carson improved to 5-3 in Northern 4A play, and with about eight games left on the schedule, the Senators have a firm grip on second place in the Sierra League which would give them a first-round home playoff game.
Collins had 11 of her 15 in the final 16 minutes, while Smith had seven of her 13 down the stretch.
Carson snapped a 30-all tie with eight straight points, including a trey by Smith and a spurt-ending bucket by Collins. McQueen, led by Taylor Baker's 3-pointer and free throw scored six straight to make it 38-36 with 1:40 left in regulation.
Smith scored on a drive, but Lauren Mathis dropped in two free throws to keep it a two-point game, 40-38, with 53.4 left. After the teams traded turnovers, Sierra Baker had a chance to tie the game from the foul line. She made the first, but missed the second, making it 40-39 with 11.4 left.
Matley, who finished with nine points on just two field goals and four free throws, dropped in two charity tosses for a 42-39 lead. Sierra Baker threw up a shot right before the buzzer, which was off the mark and Collins grabbed the rebound.
Carson coach Todd Ackerman was happy that his team was able to withstand McQueen's late run in the final few minutes.
"We had a lapse in defense (late)," Ackerman said. "She (Taylor Baker) shot that 3-pointer and I was OK with that. We just had to do a better job of stopping penetration than we did late in the game.
"Emily and Savannah are going to get opportunities to score. Both get good shots, and we need them to knock them down. If we can get all three to score in the same game we would have a three-headed monster."
For the second straight game, Carson had trouble scoring. Shots weren't dropping the entire first half as the teams battled to a 16-all tie.
An 8-4 run late in the third quarter gave Carson a 28-27 lead after three. Smith got the ball rolling, and then Collins and Matley knocked down 3-pointers.
The game was tied at 30 with 4:22 to go, setting the stage for Carson's aforementioned 8-0 surge for the 38-30 lead which proved too much for nthe Lancers to overcome.
