DEVILS LAKE — Nobody has been able to beat Carrington since before Christmas.
Most of the time, it’s been due to the Cardinals’ defense. They came into Tuesday’s region semifinals having held opponents to 39.4 points per game. They were only scoring 50.5.
On Tuesday, though, Carrington dominated on both sides of the ball. No. 4 Four Winds/Minnewaukan (16-7) was overwhelmed by a 40-point first half in a 66-46 loss to the No. 1-seeded Cardinals (20-3) at the Devils Lake Sports Center.
The Cardinals won their 18th consecutive game. The Indians had a four-game winning streak stopped, moving them to Thursday’s region third-place game.
Carrington’s previous highest point total in a half was 33. The Cardinals hit six triples and capitalized on turnovers to bury that mark in the first half of Tuesday’s game. Their 66 total points was also a season best.
“Hats off to Carrington. They were hotter than heck,” FW/M head coach Sean Gourd Sr. said. “Probably some of it because our defense wasn’t what it should have been. But no, they were knocking down shots. They were moving the ball. They were very efficient. They’re a well-oiled machine.”
Marah Johnson banking a three 10 seconds into the game set the tone for a rare offensive explosion from a defensive-minded Carrington team. The Cardinals had no trouble finding open looks, and they hit six of them before halftime.
Johnson had two triples, while Sienna Topp, Aniston Hoornaert, Harper Kollman and Mya Neis each had one. Johnson led Carrington with 10 points in the half.
“We just didn’t come out ready,” Gourd Sr. said. “A little shell-shocked.”
Hoornaert also had multiple cuts inside to put up nine points.
“Half their looks were probably wide open, and half of them were at least contested a little bit,” Gourd Sr. said. “And they were still knocking them down. So that’s just, you know, it goes like that.”
Defensively, Carrington was, for the most part, as effective as always. The one stain was 25 points from Suri Gourd — the most scored by any individual player against Carrington this season. But the rest of the team struggled to give her support offensively.
“She just hates losing,” Gourd Sr. said of his daughter. “She wants to leave it all out there every time. … She’s just a competitor.”
Stella Dubois had FW/M’s first points to make it 3-2. Carrington then went on a 20-3 run, with the only points from a Gourd triple.
Gourd had 12 consecutive Indians points. The rest of the team only totaled six as FW/M trailed 40-18 at the half.
Gourd scored eight more points in the third quarter, but her teammates added just four.
Neis hit a three for Carrington to become the team’s fifth player in double figures. The Cardinals’ scoring was remarkably balanced: Kollman with 14, Johnson and Hoornaert each with 12, Maara Kutz with 11 and 10 for Neis.
Cailee Hanson made a layup for her first points of the game at the end of the third quarter. After a zero-point first half, she ended up having a solid second half with 10 points for the Indians.
FW/M outscored Carrington 16-10 in the fourth quarter.
It was at least a sliver of positive momentum as the Indians head into a do-or-die game on Thursday.
“We showed some heart. We showed some fight,” Gourd Sr. said. “We pushed back a little bit. So that was definitely encouraging to see. And we played hard the whole rest of the game. But we just can’t wait a whole half to get going. Play our A-game, attack the basket, rebound better, play defense, contest better.”
The Indians will face Devils Lake on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. inside the Devils Lake Sports Center.
“The season isn’t over,” Gourd Sr. said. “Yeah, it sucks we lost today, but we’ve still got a chance to sneak in there. Like I said, nobody expects us to win and everything. So we’ve got to go out and prove it.”
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