Carroll County girls dominate Pulaski County, 66-40

By BRIAN BISHOP

The Patriot

Carroll County dominated Pulaski County from the tip to the final buzzer in Saturday’s matchup of the two Southwest Virginia girls’ basketball powerhouses, beating the Lady Cougars 66-40 at the Cougar Den.

Carroll is the reigning Class 3A state champions and Pulaski County lost in the semi-finals in Class 4A last year.

Carroll’s speed and athleticism posed a problem for the Lady Cougars, causing Pulaski to commit 23 turnovers and got them in foul trouble.

Carroll went 22-27 from the charity stipe with Alyssa Ervin going 10-11.

Ervin, who scored a game high 34 points, said afterward, “Pulaski is our biggest rival. We would rather beat them over anyone we have ever played.”

The Cougars, who found themselves down 38-19 at the half, came out fighting in the third quarter.  They were able to cut into the lead by pushing the ball into Hannah Keefer, but really never made a game of it.

Keefer scored 9 third quarter points and led the team with 17 for the game.

The Cougars’ Keslyn Secrist, First Team All-State last season, found herself on the bench for much of the game in foul trouble.

Carroll County Coach Marc Motley said, “Our kids played really well I thought, on the defensive end. I don’t know when Pulaski was ever held to under 40 points. I would have to go back a really long time to find out when they were held to under 40 points.”

When asked how his team gets over the loss, Pulaski County Coach Scott Ratcliff answered, “We are going to practice a little harder next week. I think everybody is going to see a better ball club next week.”

With the loss,Pulaski drops to 3-2 on the season and plays Christiansburg at home on Tuesday. Carroll County is now 5-0.

Pulaski County (40)

M. Vest 4, Huff 2, Lawson 11, Keefer 17, Secrist 2, T. Vest 2, Jones 2

Carroll County (66)

Erving 34, Easter 4, Richardson 9, Lam 3, Hagee 10, Alley 6