Carson nails game-winning 3-pointer in final minute to lead SPSCC past Centralia College
OLYMPIA — On a night where star forward Jaynee Tanner put up her fifth 20-point, 20-rebound performance of the season, it was Dakota Carson who stole the show for the South Puget Sound Community College women's basketball team.
In a tie game with Centralia College Saturday night, the Lane Community College transfer Carson found herself wide open in the left corner with about half of the shot clock still left in the possession and 30 seconds on the game clock.
In terms of strategy, CC probably could have gotten away with leaving almost any Clipper open to shoot a 3-pointer, as the team shoots at a 25% clip from behind the arc so far this season.
The key word is "almost" any Clipper.
Carson, who has accounted for more than half of SPSCC's 3-point makes this season, fired and drained the go-ahead 3-pointer to lead the Clippers to a 56-53 victory over the Trailblazers.
"Dakota is a big-time shooter. We're lucky to have her. She has the green light," SPSCC head coach Darah Vining said. "She can shoot if it's within rhythm. She shot it with confidence, and she put us up with a big-time shot."
The Clippers, Carson admitted, weren't specifically assigned to give the ball to the Creswell, Oregon, product in those final moments. But with so much attention on Tanner, who finished with 20 points and 21 rebounds, Carson broke free for the open look in the clutch.
"We didn't really have a play call for that. We were supposed to run it through, but I saw that I was open," Carson said. "I was confident that I could shoot it for my team and make it, and even if I didn't make it, I knew someone else was going to get the ball and score."
The game-sealing shot came on the heels of a low-scoring, physical battle that saw no team lead by more than eight points and included five ties and eight lead changes. It also featured 47 combined turnovers, 40 combined fouls, and 27 combined missed free throws.
SPSCC jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first quarter thanks to points in transition off of steals and second-chance buckets off of offensive rebounds. Centralia mirrored its opponent with a 10-2 run of its own to knot the score at 12.
Trailing 15-12 to start the second quarter, the Trailblazers found themselves down seven before scoring seven unanswered to tie and subsequently take their first lead with 2:37 to go until halftime. Khloe Glover's layup with 28 seconds left gave CC a 29-28 advantage at the break.
Centralia's biggest lead of the night came 30 seconds into the second half, when Mya Penswick's layup made it 31-28. SPSCC's offense overcame some sloppy turnovers and found life on offense through Tanner to jump back in front.
But the energy in the gym was quickly wiped out in the third quarter when starting guards Mia Martinez and Brielle Nueku went down with injuries within minutes of each other. Tanner put the team on her back, scoring seven in the third, including her fourth 3-pointer of the season.
The Spanish Fork, Utah, native then secured the first seven points for the Clippers in the fourth quarter. SPSCC, up 52-44 with just under four minutes remaining in the fourth, watched its lead fade away as Abi Lundblad, Keiryn Mann and Glover contributed to a 7-0 spurt to bring CC within a point.
Following a 1-for-2 trip to the charity stripe for Cristazia Cristobal that made it 53-51, Glover hit two free throws to tie the game at 53 with 43.8 seconds left. Vining showed faith in her group, which returned only one player from last year's squad in Tanner, and decided against calling a timeout to draw up a play.
The Clippers brought the ball down the court and found Carson open in the corner. Without hesitation, the sophomore lined up the shot and drilled it, sending the home crowd into a frenzy and forcing a CC timeout with SPSCC leading 56-53 with 28.6 seconds on the clock.
On the next trip down the court for the Trailblazers, Mann couldn't connect on a 3-pointer, and the team was forced to foul to stop the clock at 2.8 seconds. Centralia appeared to have caught a massive break as Cristobal missed both free throws, but Tanner swooped in and snagged her 21st rebound of the night on the second missed free throw as time expired.
"Jaynee is our captain. She's our leader. She knows how to keep the composure for our team and then also get everybody around to mimic that," Vining said of Tanner. "She's the heart of our program."
Tanner was also the heart of Tiffany Twiddy's defensive gameplan for her Trailblazers, but the sophomore was too much to handle, as many NWAC teams have learned so far this season. Tanner shot 6 of 16 from the floor and 7 of 10 from the free-throw line, and she pulled down eight of her 21 rebounds on the offensive glass.
"We gameplanned for her all week, and the goal was to just to contain her, not really stop her, because I don't think you can stop her," Twiddy said.
The Trailblazers were difficult to put away, but Twiddy's team was a play or two away from its second NWAC West victory. Instead, CC must settle for a 1-4 start in conference play and 6-14 mark overall.
"Our execution at the end in terms of our defense was pretty good today. I would've liked a little bit more execution on the offensive side," Twiddy said. "But I think they fought hard. I was proud of their effort."
Outside of Tanner's monster game, Carson was the other Clipper in double figures with 10. Martinez, who returned briefly from her ankle injury in the fourth quarter, scored eight points, as did Breedlove.
Glover led the Trailblazers with 19 points, and Mann scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Penswick added nine, and Lundblad provided eight with 13 rebounds, three steals and three blocks.
SPSCC (13-6, 4-1 NWAC West) will visit Green River Wednesday night, while Centralia will look to snap a three-game skid at home against Pierce College that same night.