Curry Heats Up, Leads Taconic Past Mount Everett
SHEFFIELD, Mass. -- Johnahyah Curry scored 19 points -- 15 on 3-pointers -- and the Taconic girls basketball team Friday played its best game of the season in a 78-41 win over Mount Everett.
Taconic set the tone early in this one, holding Mount Everett’s Gwendolyn Carpenter scoreless in the first quarter and limiting her to just four points in the first half as the visitors built a 42-19 lead.
Coach Matt Mickle was pleased with the way his press was able to force Carpenter to give the ball up in the backcourt and then turn it over before she had a chance to do damage at the offensive end.
“That was the most complete game we’ve played all year,” Mickle said. “I felt like we made some progress tonight.
“It was kind of the thought process to make her work to bring the ball up the floor as much as possible. The girls did a good job of keeping her in front. She can obviously make things very difficult for you. She’s great at breaking you down off the dribble and then creating foul shots for herself.”
Carpenter finished with 12 points. Madison Ullrich led the Eagle with 13.
Three Taconic players finished in double figures. In addition to Curry’s 19, Ciany Conyers and Ahliya Phillips finished with 15 and 14, respectively. Taea Bramer scored nine, grabbed 11 rebounds and passed out three assists.
Phillips scored three times in transition off turnovers in the first quarter, the last time on an assist from Conyers to make it 15-5 at the end of the first quarter.
Taconic opened on an 8-0 run that ended with a Kendra Buda putback to start the second quarter.
But Mount Everett rallied from there with its most consistent scoring stretch of the night, converting on five of seven offensive trips. Carpenter got things started with a pair of free throws and set up Ullrich for a bucket in the post during that stretch.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, their offensive efficiency coincided with Curry catching fire.
In the final four minutes of the second quarter, she hit four 3-pointers -- including three on back-to-back-to-back trips and a high arcing shot from the corner to beat the buzzer and give Taconic a 23-point advantage in the locker room.
“She felt really good,” Mickle said. “The cool thing was the girls started looking for her, too. We’ve talked about being happy for each other and trying to find the hot hand, and I thought the girls really started looking for her.”
Taconic (5-1) goes to Lee on Tuesday.
Mount Everett (3-5) hosts Monument Mountain Tuesday.