Basketball Recap: Carroll Takes Down Clinton Prairie in a Playoff Battle

It's playoff time, and Carroll had no trouble coming through when it counted. They slipped by the Clinton Prairie Gophers 42-41 on Tuesday. This was a revenge game for the Cougars: when they faced off against the Gophers back in January, they had to take a 51-46 defeat.

Carroll's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Emily Justice led the charge by going 5 for 7 en route to 13 points. Jillian Salts was another key player, putting up 11 points and five rebounds.

Clinton Prairie's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Alexis Perez, who went 5 of 8 on her way to 13 points and five boards. The dominant performance gave Perez a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Hyleigh Wilson, who posted seven points and five rebounds.

Carroll is on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 17-7 record this season. As for Clinton Prairie, they moved to 13-11 with that defeat, which also ended their six-game winning streak.

Carroll will face off against Clinton Central at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Clinton Prairie does not have any more games scheduled as of now.