Carroll girls basketball promotes 5-10 freshman for rebounds, defense
Carroll head girls basketball coach Teri Morrison is hoping a recent roster move will give her the rotation she needs as her team contends for the District 7-6A championship.
Last week, Morrison promoted Rachel Seyler from the freshman team and had her play in the Mansfield Spring Creek Barbeque Invitational tournament. Seyler (5-10) is expected to remain with the team as long as she is contributing.
What Seyler offers likely won’t be on the scoreboard. Morrison just wants her to handle the basketball, collect rebounds and play on the defensive end. The majority of the scoring can still be handled by Priscilla Smeenge, Anna Hurlburt and Brook Lay.
Carroll (12-9, 2-0 in District 7-6A) went 2-2 in the Spring Creek tournament. The Lady Dragons resumed district play Tuesday at Coppell and play host to Richland on Friday.
“I was very pleased with Rachel because of how calm she is,” Morrison said. “I think she fits into our offensive very well. She makes the right pass at the right time. We’re just trying to find some chemistry and get a rotation going with eight. I felt she could go do that.”
Morrison’s offense is built to where she doesn’t have a true point guard. That’s pretty much distributed to the likes of Smeenge, Lay, Kayla Colan and now Seyler. The advantage with Seyler is that her height allows her to see and pass over the top of the defensive pressure.
The addition of Seyler shows how Morrison is re-tooling this roster and shifting toward a younger lineup. Three first-year players are seeing significant playing time between Seyler, 6-1 post Gabby McBride and Colan.
“Our freshmen are playing better and they’re getting some really good playing time,” Morrison said. “Rachel’s ability to not dribble fast and to not hurry on the floor is really good. She has the ability to pass to the post. I just want her to drive the bus.”
It’s no secret that Morrison is still concerned about turnovers. Through the first 21 games, Carroll has averaged 11.1 assists and 14.6 turnovers per game. Those numbers have remained relatively the same over the last couple of weeks.
If Carroll is going to challenge Euless Trinity and Colleyville Heritage for the district championship, ball security is crucial.
“It seems like we’re a second-half team,” Morrison said. “We kind of take some time to get things going through the first half. But if we get to a point where we play well for four quarters, I think we’re going to be OK.”
They’re free
Carroll’s top two scorers in Hurlburt and Smeenge are also getting to the free-throw line the most. Smeenge is at 14.9 points per game. Hurlburt is at 13.0.
But neither is shooting a percentage at the foul line that they want. Hurlburt is 51-85 (60 percent), while Smeenge is 43-70 (61 percent). Consider that Carroll came into this week having attempted 255 free throws. Hurlburt and Smeenge have combined to attempt 155 of them, or 60.7 percent. No other Carroll player has attempted more than 25 free throws.
Notable
Carroll is averaging 9.8 steals and 3.9 blocked shots per game.
This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Carroll girls basketball promotes 5-10 freshman for rebounds, defense."