Charleroi shakes off injuries, tops B-C

CHARLEROI - Playing without injured center Ashley Argirakis, junior Heather Carson and senior Brittany Vaccaro led Charleroi to a 59-22 win over Beth-Center in Class AA's Sec. 5 Wednesday.

Carson recorded the first triple double of her career, as she scored 15 points, dished out 11 assists, and grabbed 10 rebounds while Vaccaro tied her career high of 21 points.

"Heather played an all-around good game," said Charleroi coach Greg Melvin. "She could have had 15 assists if girls would have hit open shots.

"Brittany has had a hot hand for us lately," added Melvin. "We are definitely a harder team to defend when she is on."

Carson, Vaccaro, and Chelsea Eckert all scored four points to lead the Lady Cougars (10-8, 5-4) to a 16-7 lead after one quarter. Eckert finished with nine points.

"Chelsea probably played her best all around game so far," said Melvin. "She keeps getting better."

Brittany Cole led the Lady Bulldogs (4-13, 2-7) with three points in the opening frame.

Vaccaro had a hot hand in the second quarter. She took back-to-back passes from Carson and drained three-pointers to give the Lady Cougars 28-11 lead. Vaccaro finished with nine points in the quarter.

Samantha Slagle scored four of her team-high eight points in the second quarter for Beth-Center.

Charleroi led 33-13 at the half.

"We started off a little slow in the first half," said Melvin. Heather had the two early fast break lay-ups, but it took us a while to get going. But then we started to hit our shots. We rebounded a lot better in the second quarter than in the first."

Charleroi visits Frazier tonight.

GAME NOTES: Krissy Hillgartner finished with eight steals for Charleroi, while Jackie Deutsch (six), Eckert (six), and Jenn Crabb (four) combined for 16 rebounds for the winners.