It’s late February, and that means playoff basketball is just getting underway.
For me, it’s a different feeling. Since 2003, I can’t remember a year when both Carson’s boys and girls teams were shut out of the playoffs.
The Carson boys finished on a high note with wins over Wooster and Douglas en route to a 5-11 league record and 8-16 overall. The Senators swept Wooster and split with Douglas, and also had wins over Hug and North Valleys.
Carson had trouble scoring points. Not because they weren’t good shooters, but more because the Senators had turnover issues all season. Simply put, they had too many empty possessions where they didn’t even get a shot up. A quick shot is always better than an empty possession for obvious reasons.
What’s ahead? I’m not really sure. Derek Barry, Trent Robison, Abel Carter and Jonny Randall accounted for 35 of Carson’s 41 points per game. None of the juniors averaged more than 1.4 a game.
Carson’s JV squad had some success this season, but there isn’t much height there unless somebody hits a growth spurt in the off-season.
Size isn’t everything, but if you don’t have size you better play great on-ball defense, be great on the defensive glass and take care of the basketball.
The Carson girls went 4-12 in league play. It was a squad that had the injury bug much of the season, and lost a couple of players for different reasons. The squad often played with just seven or eight players.
The Senators lost two close ones to Galena, games they should have won. Win those two and beat Damonte once, and Carson would’ve made the playoffs again.
On the plus side, the team loses only three players to graduation — guards Abbey Paulson and Lauren Lemburg, and center Dajarrah Navarro.
The big question mark is whether Bella Kordonowy can bounce back from her season-ending knee injury. She was scheduled to undergo an MRI this past week. The injury was expected to keep her out of softball, which is her best sport.
Leading scorer Lily Bouza and fellow sophomore Annika Wick are expected to return next season along with freshman Abigail Golik, junior guard Kirsten Iverson and junior centers Trinity Beard and Haley Garver. Freshman Nancy Alvarez showed no fear on the floor after she was brought up from the JV team late in the season.
The Senators will need more consistent production from Garver and Beard. Both showed good things at times, but weren’t consistent. Both have the ability to be double-figure scorers.
Help from the JV team should come from Kelley Barr and Emma McCoy.
The biggest issue for Carson is learning how to handle presses and being able to run set plays in the half-court offense. Carson was better at that this past season, but it’s an area that needs to improve.
The Carson girls will benefit if they work hard during the summer. Better basketball IQ will come the more you play the game.