Lady Dragons bounce back from low-scoring affair

One flat tire was followed by a very impressive performance by Carroll’s girls basketball team last week.

Whether it was fatigue from the Pflugerville tournament or just a bad night at the office, the Lady Dragons (10-6) had their lowest scoring output in head coach Teri Morrison’s tenure in the 44-27 loss to Keller on Dec. 9. But they reacted very well last Friday in a 53-37 victory over McKinney North, a team that was in the 2014 then-Class 4A girls state tournament.

“I don’t think we were flat, but we didn’t have our second wind,” Morrison said about the Keller game. “Couple that with not making shots against their zone and that’s what happened. It was a very eye-opening experience. But the good thing is that we were ready in the next practice and were prepared. We jumped on [McKinney North] and executed extremely well.”

District 7-6A play began this week. The Lady Dragons opened Tuesday at Haltom and play host to Hurst L.D. Bell on Friday.

Injury update

Senior post Juls Grubbs, who has been out with a knee injury, continues to go through a delicate and deliberate rehab process. Morrison said Grubbs is not anywhere close to being ready for a game at this point.

The optimistic scenario is that she could be ready for the tournament in San Diego between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

“Really, it’s a case where we don’t want to rush her back,” Morrison said. “Whenever we get her back, it’s a case where we hope we can get her for 8-10 minutes per game. It’s just going to depend on her mobility and lateral movement.”

Senior post Madison Drescher played only the first two games of the season before going down with a badly sprained ankle. But Morrison said Drescher just got out of her walking boot and hopes to have her back for Friday’s game against L.D. Bell.

“Just have to see how everything goes in practice this week,” Morrison said. “It’s a day-to-day thing.”

Smeenge’s run

Sophomore wing Priscilla Smeenge’s scoring is becoming a welcomed habit. Despite a rugged six-point effort against Keller, Smeenge followed it up with her second 22-point output of the season when she tallied that against McKinney North.

Smeenge is becoming that third scorer in this offense behind senior point guard Kennedy Leonard (16.0) and junior post Anna Hurlburt (11.6). At 5-11 and with the ability to handle the ball, she becomes a pretty tough matchup.

“She’s really taking good shots wherever she is on the floor,” Morrison said. “Priscilla is quick and strong and has a good feel for her jump shot. Our transition game is really good. But the other thing she is doing is that she has done a great job with our high-low game as well.”

Other notes

Speaking of Leonard, she has recorded eight or more assists in eight of Carroll’s first 16 games…the Lady Dragons are shooting 65 percent on their free throws. However, ball security must improve. They have 213 assists but have committed 214 turnovers.

This story was originally published December 15, 2014 at 3:54 PM with the headline "Lady Dragons bounce back from low-scoring affair."