By NICHOLAS GAINEY
Special to TopSports.news
Down by seven points midway through the third quarter in their Tuesday night non-conference matchup with Maranatha Christian, the Cair Paravel Lions girls basketball team stormed back with a 14-0 run on their way to a 39-31 home win.
Karsyn Hastert tied for game-high honors with 12 points in Tuesday's 39-31 home win over Maranatha Academy. [File photo/TSN]
The teams battled back and forth for much of the first period, with Maranatha’s Rose Baumler knocking down a three-pointer for the first field goal of the game.
The host Lions (3-11) answered with a layup from Karsyn Hastert, her first two of a 12-point night. Cair Paravel would add three-pointers from London Backman and KellyAnn Chada to take a 9-7 lead later in the period, but a late basket from Risa Johnson tied the game at 9 after the first quarter.
The Lion offense struggled in the second quarter, only scoring five points on two field goals in the period. Hastert added her second basket of the contest early in the frame before the hosts went several minutes scoreless.
Freshman Eriana Donaldson broke the drought with a layup and a foul, converting the three-point play to give Cair Paravel a 14-13 lead. The next four points belonged to the visiting Eagles (6-8), with Maranatha taking a 18-14 lead into the half following a basket from Baumler.
Cair Paravel opened the second half with a basket from Kameron Welshans to draw within two, but the Eagles’ Ava Oglesby answered with a score of her own to stretch the lead to 20-16. Quinn Sramek hit a 3-pointer to give Maranatha its largest lead of the night at 23-16, forcing a timeout from Cair Paravel coach Jaley Barkley with 4:19 to play in the third quarter.
Following the timeout, the Lions turned the tables. Cair Paravel scored the final 10 points of the quarter, including six points from Hastert.
A basket from Backman gave the Lions a 26-23 lead with 56 seconds to play in the quarter, forcing a Maranatha timeout.
The start of the fourth quarter belonged to Chada and the Lions, with the junior tallying the first four points of the quarter to stretch the Cair Paravel lead to seven.
Sramek put an end to the 14-0 run in the same manner it began after making a 3-pointer, but the 30-26 deficit would be the closest the Eagles would get for the remainder of the contest.
With her team up six in the last minute, Backman sank a pair of free throws to secure the 39-31 win, the second victory in three games for the Lions.
Chada and Hastert shared the team lead with 12 points each for Cair Paravel. Hastert and Donaldson each contributed seven rebounds as the Lions attempted 13 more field goals than Maranatha.
Sramek and Baumler each tallied 11 points for Maranatha. Abigail Thornton led all players with nine rebounds in the contest.
As a first-year head coach with a young team, Barkley was pleased to see how her team put the skills they have learned over the course of the season to good use.
“We’re currently in a pretty hard league, so we’ve had some pretty hard games, and we knew this was going to be a hard game coming out,” Barkley said. “But I think we just had that fire inside, and we knew that we have grown so much, just connecting all the things we’ve been learning.”
Cair Paravel remains at home with a contest against Mission Valley on Thursday, Feb. 6.
CAIR PARAVEL GIRLS 39, MARANATHA CHRISTIAN 31
Maranatha Christian 9 9 5 8 -- 31
Cair Paravel 9 5 12 13 -- 39
Maranatha Christian (6-8) -- Sramek 4-13 1-2 11, Oglesby 2-5 0-0 4, Baumler 4-12 1-2 11, Gary 0-0 0-0 0, Isaacson 0-3 1-2 1, Johnson 1-3 0-0 2, Thornton 1-3 0-1 2. Totals 12-39 3-7 31.
Cair Paravel (3-11) -- Meyer 0-0 0-0 0, Hastert 6-16 0-0 12, Donaldson 2-9 2-3 6, Backman 2-13 2-2 7, A. Chada 0-3 0-0 0, K. Chada 5-10 1-5 12, Welshans 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 16-52 5-10 39.
3-point goals -- Maranatha 4 (Sramek 2, Baumler 2), Cair Paravel 2 (Backman, K. Chada). Total fouls -- Maranatha 15, Cair Paravel 8. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none.
