East Carter soars past Lady Royals

In a familiar matchup on the court, one athlete hits a huge milestone.

After battling through the ice and snow for the past 10 days, the Twin Rivers Lady Royals returned to action on Tuesday against some tough competition.

The Lady Royals welcomed the East Carter Lady Redbirds (14-2) into their home on Tuesday. Originally, the game was scheduled for Monday but was postponed due to the weather conditions.

On a path to a dominant 52-23 victory over the Lady Royals, East Carter senior Dylan Price reached a new milestone in her high school basketball career by collecting her 1000th point. Fellow senior Breanna Dohleman recently crossed over the 1000-point threshold earlier this season, and now she welcomes Price into the club.

“We didn’t play our best in our last game, so we needed this game to help pick us back up,” Price said. “We’re definitely a little out of shape after missing a few days from the gym, so it’s nice to get our legs under us again. Reaching 1000 points is a great milestone, but it hasn’t been my main focus this year. I’m looking towards districts because I really want to make a deep run into the postseason, but I know we have to take care of everything before that, so I’m locked in.”

Both teams entered the game with a record well above .500, but the Lady Redbirds hold the upper hand over the Lady Royals. The last time these two faced off was in the Lady Royals Christmas Classic, where East Carter won 69-29.

The Royals needed a near-perfect game with limited turnovers to sneak past the Lady Redbirds.

With heavy momentum on their side, the Lady Redbirds stepped onto the floor with a lot of energy and took off from there. They exploded in the first quarter, outscoring their opponents 22-2.

East Carter utilized their full-court pressure defense to rattle the Lady Royals early, and their scheme worked to perfection. They managed to cause many turnovers with the Lady Royals’ offense and built a comfortable lead that would carry over for most of the game and another slash in the win column.

Dohleman led East Carter with 14 points. Anna Crowley had 13, Price finished with 10 and Parker Golden added with nine.

The Lady Redbirds improved to 15-2 on the season, and coach Angela Rodgers couldn’t be happier with the results after a few days off the floor. Rodgers said the Lady Redbirds played well in the first half but took their foot off the gas a little, but she was happy to get some contributing minutes from her bench.

“Overall, this is a good win,” Rodgers said. “Twin Rivers is tough, and they’re not a team that should get overlooked. They’re definitely having a good season. We haven’t had school for nearly two weeks, so it’s always hard when you’re not in a routine, and I just think they were ready to be back today. I’m glad to be back because we’re about to have some tough games ahead, but we’ll be ready.”

The Lady Royals fall to 10-6 on the season. Despite their efforts against East Carter, coach Michael Snider wants his team to play better through adversity.

“I thought in the first half we came out, and we were trying to play entirely too fast for us,” Snider said. “We’ve got to slow everything down when playing against a team such as East Carter, who did a great job speeding us up with their pressure defense. We must understand when we have numbers versus when we don’t because every possession must matter to us.

“When we did slow down and play within ourselves, I thought we got some good looks. I thought we got the ball where we wanted to get it to, and I saw some good things, but when we get that sped up, we must hold our composure and play our game.”

Anne Mittelstadt led the Lady Royals with eight points, while Lilly Oliver chipped in with seven.

The Lady Royals will hit the road on Thursday to take on the Doniphan Donettes, and the Lady Redbirds will host the Neelyville Lady Tigers.