When it was all over, Carey School basketball fans hastily pulled out their cell phones to broadcast the big news—but the Panther players themselves were still a little stunned at what they'd done at Shoshone.
"It's never happened before, Carey winning at Shoshone, so they didn't quite know what to feel," said Panther coach Hollis Pincock about his girls' reactions to Tuesday night's startling overtime outcome.
Playing great defense, Carey (5-1, 2-0 league) shocked perennial Northside Conference power Shoshone (5-1, 0-1) by a 52-47 score in an extra four-minute session. It was tied 41-41 after regulation then Carey outscored Shoshone 11-6.
"It was a real tough defensive game," said Pincock. "And defense is the key to beating Shoshone. They are so good at setting picks and they run their plays so well. I just had to remind our girls where Shoshone was likely to be. And the Carey girls just hustled to get there.
"We just kept playing hard the entire game."
Carey's balanced scoring attack was led by seniors Brenna Silva (18 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks), Jessica Royal (11 points, 9 assists, 3 steals), Lacey Peterson (10 points, 7 boards) and Whitney Peck (9 points, 7 rebounds).
Emily Olsen added a 3-pointer. Other contributors were Cassie Weaver (1 point, 5 rebounds), Amanda Hill (5 boards) and Allison Shaffer (4 rebounds). Carey pulled down 39 rebounds over 36 minutes.
Neither team shot particularly well because of the rugged defense. Carey shot 12-for-32 (38%) from 2-point range, 6-for-27 from 3-point range (22%) and 10-for-21 at the charity stripe (48%). But Carey made its free throws when it counted.
Katie Strunk (16 points) and Kyli Astle (11) led Shoshone.
Since Shoshone entered the league 15 years ago, the teams had played 18 times at Shoshone's gym. Carey had never won in hoops. And many times it wasn't even close.
Carey's first-ever road win over Shoshone also snapped a long 19-game girls' basketball losing streak to the Indians dating back to Jan. 5, 1999 when host Carey nipped Shoshone 48-46 in double overtime. In those 19 meetings, Shoshone had outscored Carey 56-36 on average.
Defending State 1A champ Shoshone, which has won 11 of 16 Northside Conference banners since joining the small-school league in 1990, has been virtually unbeatable with a 73-8 league record in winning five of the last six Northside titles.
Last year was the worst, as Carey lost to Shoshone by an average 34.0 ppg. But the Panthers changed things Tuesday.
"We've been trying to get these girls to believe that they can go into any game with the idea of winning it," said Pincock, who added that the Shoshone win should do wonders for Panther confidence.
Carey goes to the Murtaugh tournament Friday and Saturday, starting Friday at 7:30 p.m. with a contest against 2A Valley of Hazelton. Murtaugh and Dietrich clash in Friday's early game. The championship game is Saturday at 6 p.m.
Richfield (3-2, 2-0) arrives Tuesday, Dec. 13 in Carey for another important Northside clash. The Tigers played at Dietrich Thursday night.
