Lady Bison qualify for state tourney, beat Sloan-Hendrix

Carlisle's Ashby Terry is fouled while making a shot in the first half against Sloan-Hendrix in the first round of the Class 2A North Region Tournament at Bison Arena on Wednesday night. (Photo by Mark Buffalo)

By Mark Buffalo

Staff Writer

@markbuffalo

CARLISLE — It wasn’t pretty but the Carlisle Lady Bison are headed back to the state tournament for the first time in four seasons.

Despite missing 18 free throws, Carlisle beat Sloan-Hendrix 53-35 in the first round of the Class 2A North Region Tournament on Wednesday night at Bison Arena. With the win, Carlisle improves to 26-3 on the season and guarantees it will play at least three more games this season, including at least one game in next week’s Class 2A state tournament at Quitman High School.

Carlisle will play the winner of Marmaduke and McCrory on Friday night at 7 p.m. in the semifinals at Bison Arena. Those two teams play their first-round game on Thursday.

In Wednesday’s win, the Lady Bison got off to a slow start but led 10-6 after one quarter and 25-12 at halftime.

Sloan-Hendrix made a run in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to eight points at 29-21 and 31-23. Carlisle used a 12-0 run in the second half to go up 46-25 with 6:41 left in the game.

The Lady Greyhounds made a run, cutting the deficit to 14 points but never got any closer.

Carlisle coach Jonathan Buffalo was proud of his team for winning its biggest game of the season.

“We made the plays we had to make to get the win,” he said. “Our goals are still in front of us.”

Kayla Golleher led Carlisle with 15 points. DeShaye Ricks had 10. Heather Bowlan added eight. Ashby Terry and Kiara Miller scored seven points each. Blakely Ellis scored four while Ashley Harbison had two.