Sophomore Amy Ellsworth had a monster game on the boards and on the score sheet for the Carey High School girls' basketball team Friday night in Sun Valley. And her teammates had a pretty good game, too.
Ellsworth (12 points, 18 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists) dominated the paint as board-crashing Carey went on a 32-9 run in the middle periods and breezed to a 51-35 Northside Conference triumph over The Community School.
Carey's 19-point second quarter was decisive. Ellsworth had 6 points and 7 boards in the eight minutes to go with 9 second-quarter points by senior Jenn Cenarrusa (13 points, 2 boards, 6 steals, 3 assists).
Lane Durtschi's improving Panthers won for the fourth time in six games, losing in that stretch only to defending State 4A champion Richfield by four points and to 2A powerhouse Challis in the Carey Holiday Tournament championship contest.
Scoring balance has been important. Carey has put three players in double figures in four of its games.
Other Carey contributors Friday in Sun Valley were Kelsey Green (11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 4 assists), Jessica Parke (6 points, 3 steals) Kayla Bailey (4 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocked shots), Shelby Hansen (3 points, 2 boards) and Emilee Butcher (2 points, 3 boards).
Carey out-rebounded The Community School 40-27 but the host Cutthroats played shorthanded because of ankle injuries to a couple of 5-10 players, senior Caroline Fairchild and sophomore Kayla Cloud.
Still, the Cutthroats had an excellent first quarter at The Fish Tank. They scored 12 points with senior Jessie Curran (9 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists) drilling a pair of 3-pointers. Turnovers (30 for the game, 10 in the second) finally caught up with them.
The second quarters have killed the Cutthroats (1-7, 0-5 league). They have been outscored 107-41 in the second periods of seven losses.
Emily Eshman (11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 4 assists) had one of her best efforts.
Other contributors were Jean Montgomery (7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals), Ricki Eshman (5 points, 3 steals, 3 assists), Marin Shepardson (3 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocked shots) and Natalie Goddard (3 rebounds, 1 block).
Thursday night, Carey scored in double digits in each quarter for the first time this season and handled the Camas County Mushers 64-27 in a Northside game at Carey. It was a season-high point total for the Panthers, who are averaging 40.7 ppg.
Carey shot 48% from the field and out-rebounded Camas by a 33-10 margin. Carey had 20 points in the paint and finished with 13 steals.
Panther contributors included Ellsworth (8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals), Parke (a season-best 14 points, 3 steals, 2 assists), Hansen (a season-high 12 points), Cenarrusa (10 points, 3 steals), Bailey (8 points, 8 rebounds), Green (5 points, 7 boards), Butcher (5 points, 4 rebounds) and Chelsey Hunt (2 points).
Paige Davies (8 points) paced Camas. The Mushers bounced back Saturday night playing their best game of the season in a 60-52 home league loss to Dietrich (8-4, 4-2) at Fairfield. Davies scored 15 points.
Carey (5-4, 3-2 league) finishes its pre-holiday slate with non-conference games against the #2-ranked 2A Valley Vikings today, Wednesday at Hazelton. Valley, a 22-point winner at Carey Dec. 1, has only lost twice to Kimberly and once to the Jerome junior varsity. Valley played at Shoshone Tuesday night.
The Community School girls resume Saturday, Jan. 5 in Fairfield in the first of two January meetings against Camas County (1-8. 0-5).
