In post-season tournaments, the popular thought is high seeds beat lower seeds and everything else follows suit.
The Community School had the upset card up its sleeve Wednesday and came very close to dealing Carey a huge loss.
On the opening night of the Northside Conference 1A Sub-District girls' basketball tournament in Shoshone, the fifth- seeded Community School (2-10) took fourth-ranked Carey (12-7) to double overtime, before the Panthers prevailed 47-45.
"It was a good game. They played well and they gave a lot of heart," Cutthroat coach Ryan Waterfield remarked.
The Cutthroats broke out to a 22-14 lead at halftime and it looked like an upset was brewing.
Cutthroat Jackie Goddard, who scored a game-high 25 points, nailed 12 in the first half.
"We played like zombies in the first half," Carey coach Hollis Pincock remarked. "I kind of barked at the girls at halftime and told them to figure out if they wanted to play."
The answer was a resounding yes.
Carey countered with a man-to-man full-court press defense in the second half, and outscored the Cutthroats in the third, 15-6 to take a one-point lead, 29-28.
"We got rattled," Waterfield remarked. "We had a little bit of tentativeness and kind of broke down.
"I think Carey picked it up a lot, too. They saw the score was getting out of their control and they came back determined in the second half."
In the fourth frame, Carey's Whitney Peck (11 points/10 rebounds) sunk two important field goals to keep the Panthers in the game, and hit the game-tying hoop to tie the score 36-all and send it to overtime.
"We had to tie it all along the way," Pincock said.
Both teams failed to take advantage of opportunities from the free throw line. The Cutthroats (9-for-25) shot 4-for-11 in the fourth quarter and Carey (4-for-14) was 1-for-5.
Junior point guard Jessica Royal with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists, had a huge game for the Panthers, and despite her 5-4 stature, loomed large in the overtime stanzas.
Trailing by two points with six seconds remaining in the first overtime, Royal hit Lacey Peterson (5 pts.) under the hoop with a 20-foot pass. Peterson sunk the shot to tie the game 42-all and send it to a second overtime.
"It's part of our game plan. A cross-court, underneath pass. People tend to forget who is behind them," Pincock said, and added, "It wasn't an easy pass and not many people can make it. Jessica moves people around and is quite a floor general out there."
Carey clinched the contest on another Royal flush. With 17 seconds in double OT, Royal dished to Amy Olsen (9pts.) in the key, and Olsen sunk the hoop, and the Cutthroats 47-45.
The Cutthroats had the ball in the final seconds, but could not launch a shot.
"We don't have experience with those kind of close games," Waterfield said. "In practice we work on the press and things like that, but we don't get to those last second plays very often. But they never gave up."
Goddard finished with 25 points and 18 rebounds.
"After the game I told her thank-you and I am glad you are graduating," Pincock said. "She gives us fits."
Gussi Ochi scored 8 points, Blake Ellis (8 rebounds) 6, Caitlin Cairncross 2, Cody Curran 2, Jessie Curran (6 rebounds) 2.
Chipping in to the Carey point total were Brenna Silva with 5 and Melissa Peck 2.
"We took 83 shots and only made 20," Pincock noted. "We missed 63. That's a lot. But we took care of the ball and had 14 steals."
In the other first-round game, third-seeded Richfield (16-4) dispatched Camas County 48-32. Moe Hubsmith of Richfield and the Mushers Beth McLam tallied 12 points each.
Two-time defending champion Shoshone (19-1, 9-1 league) is the top seed in the six-team tourney. Carey returned to the floor against the Indians last night. Richfield played second-seeded Dietrich (12-7).
Tournament action resumes Saturday with Ketchum playing the loser of Dietrich—Richfield at 6 p.m. and Camas County taking on the loser of Carey—Shoshone at 7:30 p.m.
The championship game is Monday at 7:30 p.m., and second-place will be determined on Wednesday, Feb 2 at 7 p.m.
