It took all of about five minutes for Carson High's girls basketball team to take control of the game.
The Senators scored 12 of the game's first 15 points en route to a 64-44 win over North Valleys Friday night at Morse Burley Gym.
Carson improved to 6-2 in Division I play which is good for second place behind Bishop Manogue.
"I thought we played pretty well in the first half," Carson coach Nate Tolbert said. "I don't have any complaints. We have to have defensive pressure to get our offense going. When you get up like we did, sometimes it's hard to stay up."
Savannah Smith, who led all scorers with 19, had eight quick points in the first quarter to spark Carson to a 20-8 lead. Smith had no trouble working her way to the basket against the undermanned Panthers.
"She was off against Wooster," Tolbert said. "The layups that she missed tonight were left-handed ones. They will come."
Carson put together another 20-8 surge in the second quarter en route to a 40-16 advantage at the half. North Valleys, which turned the ball over a whopping 30 times in the first 16 minutes, went without a field goal for the final 6 1/2 minutes of the half.
The Senators had a 9-0 run to increase their lead to 33-11, as Natali Salas had three free throws in that span. Carson followed that with a 7-2 run as Kayla Aikins scored on two putbacks to lead the way.
It was a far cry from the Wooster game where Carson didn't get the lead until the final minute of the first half. Carson went 16-for-40 in the first half.
"We showed up to play tonight (especially in the first half)," said forward Elena Thurman, who scored all seven of her points in the first half. "We played a lot better on defense and stopped them. The first half we were a lot better than we were against Wooster. We worked more as a team instead of five individuals.
"I think we were pretty sloppy offensively. We lost it a little bit in the second half."
Indeed.
Carson was outscored 9-4 in the third quarter, as the Panthers cut he deficit to 44-25. The Senators failed to score in the last 4 1/2 minutes. They went 0-for-5 from the floor and turned the ball over three times in that span.
Carson got its lead back up to 26, 55-29, thanks to an 11-2 run in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter. Smith scored five in that stretch and Gina Peacock added a couple of baskets.
North Valleys had a 7-2 surge in the final 90 seconds to get it back to a 20-point game.
Skye Simpson finished with 12 points for Carson, scoring seven in the final quarter. She scored on a couple of drives to the basket and also knocked down some outside shots.
"She's underappreciated," Tolbert said. "She works hard. She's the smallest player on the team. It's easy to overlook her."
