Carthage unable to overcome size difference in loss to Blue Valley Northwest

Jan. 18—PITTSBURG, Kan. — Carthage was able to harass and affect the offense of Blue Valley Northwest during the first half of Thursday's game inside the Megan Mallatt Activity Center at Pittsburg High School in the opening round of the Bill Hanson Memorial Tournament.

That changed in the second half as the Huskies used their size advantage to pull away from the Tigers for a 61-29 win.

"I liked that our girls battled that, but we were giving up 4 to 5 inches minimum at every position," Carthage head coach Scott Moore said. "And eventually that became a factor when they started to get every rebound. There's only so much we can do when we're that outmatched sizewise."

The biggest size difference came on the interior with Northwest's 6-foot-4 senior Lainie Douglas, who stood 6 inches taller than Carthage's tallest player, 5-foot-10 Lexa Youngblood.

"I definitely think our size helped us," Blue Valley head coach Chayla Cheadle said. "But Carthage is a very scrappy team. I don't care what size girls they had on the floor, they were always scrappy. So that's why I told my girls, 'We may have a size advantage, but we have to take advantage of that.'"

The first half was a display of that scrappiness as the Huskies struggled to get anything going offensively and the Tigers actually led for most of the opening quarter.

With an 8-6 lead, Carthage's Lauren Choate was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made two of those to make it 10-6. Moments later, a 3-pointer went through the basket for Youngblood and made it 13-6 as the quarter neared its end.

"I thought our defense locked in and frazzled them to start with," Moore said. "They couldn't run their sets against us. I was proud of our girls for calling the screens out, switching on the screens, defending all of that stuff. They missed a lot of shots because we played really great defense."

Moore noted that as the opposition started to score he saw that it settled down some; the Huskies weren't as rattled, and it started to show in the second quarter.

BV Northwest scored the first 7 points of the quarter to tie the game at 13. Carthage responded with a free throw from Ashlyn Brust to get the lead back.

The Huskies got a lead at 15-14 when Ella Burvee converted a close-range basket. They added to it with a layup from Douglas. But the game was quickly tied again at 17 after a triple from Brust went through the net.

But Carthage then surrendered 8 of the quarter's last 10 points to Northwest and found itself in a 25-19 hole at halftime.

The score never got any closer as the Huskies raced out to a 41-20 lead. Maggie Boyd eventually ended that 16-1 run to start the second half with a 3-pointer for Carthage.

BV Northwest didn't flinch as the lead grew to 48-26 by the end of the third stanza.

"They were actually able to finally come together as a team," Cheadle said. "I applaud our team for coming together and finding a way to fight through that adversity."

The Tigers were able to limit Douglas' offense as she finished with just 11 points, but coach Moore talked about how that allowed other players to get open looks.

"I thought we did a great job for the most part containing (Douglas), but the other girls hit some shots and that did break the back of the game plan with that," he said.

The biggest sore spot for Carthage was defending Elise Grosdidier — who finished with 15 points. The senior guard/forward stands at 6-1 and has the ability to post up down low but also spread the floor with a 3-point shot. She showed the interior play in the second quarter, scoring 7 points on three inside shots and a free throw. Then she added two 3-pointers in the third quarter.

Choate led Carthage with 12 points.

There was a clear difference in size and strength on the floor between the two teams. That could have made a difference in the pace of the game as well. It seemed there were a lot of foul calls made by the officials throughout the second half of the contest.

"Once (Northwest) got the momentum, I felt like the officials joined in the momentum and let it get away from us," Moore said.

Cheadle added her thoughts on that pace of play in the second half.

"When you have a game like that where there's a huge size advantage, sometimes I think it's hard to make those certain calls," she said.

Carthage plays at 4 p.m. on Friday against Olathe North (Kansas) in the consolation semifinals; Olathe lost to Carl Junction 52-39 on Thursday.

"We know it will be another tough game. That's what this tournament's about," Moore said. "That's why we play these tournaments, to get us ready for conference. We have to mentally and physically rebound in 24 hours."

The loss brings Carthage's record to 6-9.