Carmel Too Hot for ’Pac, Panas

CARMEL—The Carmel High girls basketball team picked up a couple of easy wins last week, rolling past overmatched Mahopac, 62-29, Saturday, after handing Panas an equally humbling 64-35 setback the prior Wednesday on the road.

Brittany Horne of Carmel uses her height to grab rebound over Mahopac’s Samantha Nardo (5). SKIP PEARLMAN The two wins left the Rams at 11-3 overall, and sitting pretty in League 1-A at 6-0.

Saturday at Carmel, the Rams took care of business, and put this one out of reach quickly, leading 16-4 after one and 39-13 by halftime.

The Rams got 18 points and 15 rebounds from Brittany Horne, Kim Broccoli added 13 points, Sabrina Diaz had 11, Nikki Oliver had another strong game with 10 rebounds and four points, and Marie Mullen came up with six steals to go with three assists and two points.

Mahopac’s struggles continued, as the team fell to 0-12. Brittany Craig and Alexa Madden each had six points for the ‘Pac.

Mahopac’s Samantha Nardo drives to the basket, as Carmel’s Nikki Oliver challenges. SKIP PEARLmAN The Indians stumbled against Carmel’s pressure defense, which forced numerous turnovers, and Carmel domi- nated the boards as well.

“The fast start is something we wanted in both games,” Rams coach Dan O’Hare said. “The kids who are playing are really coming through – they’re playing together, and taking good shots. And I have to compliment the Mahopac girls – they played with a great deal of effort during a difficult time… I think they’re going in the right direction.”

It wasn’t much different at Panas three days earlier, with Carmel racing out to a 25-2 lead at the end of a quarter. Panas – which went 1-for-12 from the floor in the first quarter - came back with a strong second – out-scoring Carmel 18-8 to make it 33-23 at halftime, but Carmel stayed focused in the second half.

Above: Alexa Madden of Mahopac looks for a shot as Rams defense challenges. SKIP PEARLmAN Horne had another monster effort with 20 points, 17 rebounds and seven steals, Broccoli added 15 points and five assists and Mullen had nine points.

Melissa Danko led the Panthers (6-4) with 15 points.

“Brittany continues to set the tone for us,” O’Hare said of Horne’s impressive numbers. Her talent becomes apparent in these kind of games, and she’s been focused. Oliver has also been very consistent, and our two senior guards (Broccoli and Mullen) have been playing well, and taking turns in scoring and assists. And Katie Grace continues to be one of our top two defenders… she’s done a terrific job.”

While O’Hare is thrilled with Carmel’s record, there are areas where he feels the Rams need to do better if they hope to go deep into the playoffs.

Right: Marie Mullen of carmel drives around Mahopac’s Caitlin Hynes. “Offensively, I couldn’t be more pleased, especially with our transition game,” he said. “That’s when we’re at our strongest. But we still need to improve on our man defense that we’ll need to play when we face a tougher schedule. Then it will be important for us to be able to stop teams with solid offensive schemes. Over the last three games we’ve gotten better in half-court man defense… hopefully we’ll continue to improve.”

Carmel is at Yorktown Monday at 6 p.m., hosts Brewster Wednesday at 6 p.m., and the Rams travel to Lakeland next Friday for a 4:15 p.m. game.