By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
MAGNET COVE – The No. 1 seeded Carlisle ladies fought hard to make it close in the second half, but still suffered a first-round exit from the regional tournament with a 57-40 loss to Conway-St. Joseph that marks an end to the season.
Carlisle opened the game in a zone defense to combat St. Joseph’s two six footers, but the Lady Bulldogs countered with dead-eye shooting. CSJ guard Megan Briggler, one of three Brigglers in the starting lineup, hit three consecutive three-point shots to open the first quarter. Conversely, Carlisle couldn’t get anything to fall. The Lady Bison went one for 11 in the first quarter. Their only bucket was a three pointer by Ashley Keathley as CSJ took a 13-4 lead into the second frame.
Carlisle’s Callie Hillman hit a three to start the second quarter that made it 13-7, but St. Joseph scored the next seven straight.
Megan Briggler missed her last three-point attempt of the first quarter, but hit two more in the second. CSJ post player Heather Moix got going in the second as well, scoring seven points as her team took a commanding 28-10 lead into the halftime break.
The Lady Bison came out pressing on defense in the second half and shooting much better on offense. They were successful in making it an up-tempo game and were better than CSJ at it. Hillman, Keathley and Lana McCallieeach hit three pointers in the quarter and sophomore post player Faith Walker began creating openings for herself on the post. The Lady Bison got the game to within nine at 38-29 on Hillman’s three pointer with three minutes left in the third quarter. But Conway-St. Joseph called timeout and got the tempo slowed down, finishing the quarter with an 8-1 run and taking a 46-30 lead into the final frame.
Carlisle had one last run in it. Hillman hit back-to-back three pointers to start the fourth quarter, making it 46-36 with 6:25 remaining, but the Lady Bison went cold again from that point, missing their last 14 attempts from the floor.
“We just dug ourselves too big of a hole to climb out of,” Carlisle coach Jonathan Buffalo said. “They couldn’t miss and we could hit anything.”
Moix led all scorers and rebounders with 19 points and 10 boards. Briggler added 17 for CSJ. Hillman led Carlisle with 14 points while Walker finished with seven.
