By Noah Jenkins, Journalism

The girls basketball team defeated Maize 38-33 on Saturday night to win a sub-state championship and earn a spot in the Class 5A state tournament in Topeka’s Expocentre.

Carroll’s girls, now 18-4, started out the game with an 18-8 lead, one of their fastest starts of the season. Leading this charge, and the scoring, was Ashton McCory with 9 points, while Whitney Bockover, Brynn Maul, and Abby Sauber all scored 7.

“The key was the girls coming out with a fearless attitude and getting stops on defense,” coach Taylor Dugan said of the strong start.

Now that they have clinched a spot in the state tournament, the girls’ first game will be against Goddard, also 18-4, at 8:15 p.m. Thursday in Topeka. The girls must win two games to make it into the championship game, and a shot at the state 5A title.

“We know they are a little bigger than us,” Dugan said of Goddard. “They have a couple three-point shooters we will have to defend. If we play like we know we can, we can have a good chance at winning and continuing on.”

The Eagles are facing a daunting task of a very strong bracket. If they can pull off an amazing run, and win out, it will be their first championship since 2004, which was also the only championship the girls basketball team ever won at Carroll.

“I am so proud of the girls. They have worked hard all season to get to the ultimate goal, which is state,” Dugan said.

Junior guard Whitney Bockover was also very proud of the team.

“The key to our success was all the preparation from our coaches and working hard at practice, sometimes staying 30-45 minutes longer just to get it correct,” she said. “I am beyond proud of this team. We have played and practiced so hard to come this far despite all the injuries that have taken place.”