Carmel stays in competition mode against Zion-Benton

Games, games, games.

Not that there is anything wrong with a lot of games.

But Carmel guard Ranya Jamison is having a hard time remembering the last time her team practiced.

"I'm really not sure," Jamison said with a laugh. "A week ago. A couple of weeks. And we're getting the next two days off too. We haven't practiced in a long time. But with the way we played tonight, maybe we should be practicing."

But Carmel coach Ben Berg promised his team before Tuesday's game against visiting Zion-Benton, that they would get Wednesday and Thursday off to recharge.

The Corsairs have been doing nothing but playing games lately. Five straight games after Christmas, then New Year's Eve and New Year's Day off, then a game on the second day of the New Year.

Carmel and Zion-Benton both seemed to show the wear and tear of a busy holiday season, grinding to a 12-12 tie at halftime on Tuesday night.

The Corsairs managed to somehow find their legs a little bit in the second half, and a few more baskets to pull out a 37-30 win.

"I thought we were a little fatigued still from Christmas," said Berg, whose team played in the Warren holiday tournament. "We had three tight games in a row (at Warren). I think that took a lot out of us.

"But I think we played better in the second half tonight. We made a conscious effort to get the ball inside to Brigit Barr. We had a size advantage.

The 5-foot-11 Barr scored 6 of her 8 points in the second half.

Zion-Benton was missing 3 starters, including big post player Kaylynn Porter, who was ill, and leading scorer Margie Villaruz. Starter Mora Smith was also unable to play.

"Margie is a shooter and Kaylynn gives size and also we didn't have Mora so we were down three starters," Zion-Benton coach Tanya Johnson said. "Then (Carmel) got (Barr) going. And we had shots that we didn't convert."

But Verniya Washington converted for Zion-Benton. She scored a game-high 13 points, including three 3-pointers.

Carmel, which made its move in the third quarter, had balanced scoring with five players with 5 or more points..

The Corsairs opened the third with a 7-0 run and wound up out-scoring Zion-Benton 15-8 in the third.

Jamison finished with a team-high 9 points, Barr had her 8 points, Caitlin Teehan and Katie Lach (two 3-pointers) each had 6 points and Kaytlyn Matz had 5 points.

"At first tonight, we weren't really communicating," Jamison said. "But we came together in the third quarter. We were talking (during an early third-quarter timeout) about how we were going to talk and screen and then we kind of came along from there."

Jamison, just a sophomore who was a starter last year as a freshman, is trying to take on more of a leadership role this year.

"Last year, we had a lot of seniors, older girls. I kind of looked at them as big sisters," said Jamison, who has worked a lot on her shot and ball-handling since last year. "I'm definitely trying to be more of a leader this year. I think Coach (Berg) wants that of me."