Big third quarter lifts Bloom-Carroll in tourney win

CARROLL — After struggling the last couple of years, Bloom-Carroll has turned things around in a big way this season.

The Bulldogs were 6-16 a year ago and struggled to find any consistency. Even though they are young – there is only one senior starter – Bloom-Carroll has improved, mainly because it does a nice job of sharing the ball.

The Bulldogs’ leading scorer, sophomore post Chloe Davis, averages only 10 points per game. However, they have a lot more scoring options than they’ve had in the past, and that has made all the difference.

“The biggest difference from last year is we have good chemistry,” Bloom-Carroll coach Chad Little said. “They all seem to like each other, they like coming to practice and everyone just seems more involved. We are also very balanced.

“I always feel bad when we do awards because we don’t have a kid averaging 18 points a game. We have a lot of kids that score and we’ve had different kids step up on different nights. One night someone might have 17 and the next game they only have six, but someone else is always there to pick up the slack.”

Bloom-Carroll showed that balance in a 42-29 Division II second-round tournament win over Johnstown on Friday. The Bulldogs advance to the district semifinals against No. 4 seed Lakewood at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a site to be determined.

The Bulldogs held a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter, but Johnstown (10-13) was able to tie it at 15-15 at halftime before the Bulldogs exploded in the third quarter to take a 36-23 lead heading to the fourth.

Bloom-Carroll broke a halftime tie by outscoring the Johnnies 21-8 in the third quarter. The Bulldogs made 8 of 9 shots from the field in the third quarter, including five 3-pointers.

The Bulldogs ended up with seven 3s in the game from five different players. Alayna Ireland, a junior, led the way three 3s and she finished with nine points. Freshman Makenzie Mason led the Bulldogs with 10 points and four assists. Davis added nine points and six rebounds.

“We knew that Johnstown would play a 1-3-1 zone the whole game and we knew we would have to make some shots,” Little said. “We didn’t shoot it very well in the first half and obviously we were concerned that we would have one of those nights. We have three or four kids that we think can shoot it. As simple as it sounds, we knew we would have to make some 3s and the third quarter we certainly did.”

Little was also pleased with the way the defense played in the second half. The fact that his young team was able to make adjustments at halftime showed just how much progress the Bulldogs have made.

Things certainly look bright for Bloom-Carroll, whose reserve team won 18 games.

“There have been some growing pains,” Little said. “Some games our guards look like freshman and sophomores and some games they don’t, but we think things are heading in the right direction, finally.”

twilson@lancastereaglegazette.com

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Twitter: @twil2323