Key injury costs Hinckley-Big Rock in home loss to Dakota

HINCKLEY – Sami Carlino tied up a Dakota player, ripping the ball from her and getting her first steal of the game.

The force of the effort sent the 6-foot Hinckley-Big Rock center to the floor, hitting her head against the hardwood.

Carlino never returned, and an H-BR lead that was once 11 dissipated as the Indians won 46-43. Dakota scored 20 of the game’s final 26 points in the win.

“Early we did well,” first-year Royals coach Bob Barnett said. “We were running things we were supposed to. We were playing good defense. We hit some shots. Then when Sami went down, that was big.”

Carlino told Barnett she felt fine, but there was no trainer on hand to clear her return to action.

“That was huge,” Barnett said. “That was the game right there.”

Carlino had been feasting early against the defense for the Indians (3-4). She was 6 of 7 from the floor with seven rebounds and finished with 15 points despite missing the last 1½ quarters.

The Royals (3-2) led 32-23 when she left, and still were scoring into the early fourth quarter. They led 38-30 after Raven Wagner made one of her two free-throw attempts with 7:20 left.

Dakota outscored the Royals 16-5 the rest of the way.

Indians coach Keeley Schrader said she liked the way the defense stepped up in the fourth. They forced six turnovers and held Hinckley-Big Rock to 2-of-6 shooting from the floor.

“We really stepped up our defense in the second half,” Schrader said. “We needed to get some more stops, and we changed our defense. That zone wasn’t working so we went back to that man.”

Barnett said he liked how the Royals handled the pressure early. While the initial switch caused five turnovers early, they only committed six between the second and third quarters.

They turned it over six times in the fourth.

“Later, we panicked,” Barnett said. “And we’re young. ... [Dakota] did a good job, give them credit. We were just unfortunate today.”

The Royals did get to the line in the fourth, forcing the Indians' fifth foul with 5:36 left to finish the game in the bonus. Anna Herrmann made one of those two free throws, pushing the H-BR lead to 39-33.

But the Royals finished 3 for 11 from the free-throw line in the fourth.

“We go 50%, we win,” Barnett said. “But it was a good effort. We’ve got to get back at Monday and then go to Amboy on Tuesday, they’re really good.”

Wagner finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and two steals for the Royals. Herrmann added 11 points.

Kenna Stuckey led the Indians with 18 points off the bench, adding seven rebounds and a team-best three steals. Cara Ingram had 15 points and five rebounds while Hailey Kerchner had eight rebound and two steals.

The Indians finished with a 33-25 edge on the boards despite being out-rebounded 14-9 in the first half.

It’s Schrader’s third year coaching in the program and first as the head coach. She said she liked how her team battled back from 11 down.

“It’s a good thing for us because in the past we haven’t been able to dig ourselves out of a hole and battle back,” Schrader said. “In the past couple years we get down to a team and, you know, we’re done. So it was nice to be able to see some fight and some drive to win the game there at the end.”