Nardella’s 3-point barrage keys Carolina Forest past South Florence

Ellen Nardella let out a grin to her head coach. Stacy Hughes could only smile back.

A made 28-foot 3-pointer will have that type of reaction.

The Carolina Forest sophomore turned the first half against South Florence into her own personal game of Pop-a-Shot before finishing with six 3-pointers and 26 points in the Panthers’ 61-39 win.

“We kind of give Ellen the green light, especially when she’s hitting,” Hughes said. “If she’s not hitting, we try to get her to work inside-outside, get to the foul line. But when she’s feeling it like that, we kind of let her go.”

Not only did Carolina Forest allow Nardella to keep launching, it essentially changed its game plan because of it. Prior to her going off for 15 second-quarter points, the Panthers were running the floor and utilizing back-door cuts.

Hughes wasn’t pressing defensively against the undermanned South Florence squad, but she kept the pace moving going the other direction. Then Nardella got hot, helping her team to a 17-point halftime lead.

“Coach never really says I can’t shoot because I’m pretty consistent,” Nardella said. “If I’m not open, I look inside to Alexis Tomlin.”

The Panthers center finished with 10 points to go along with Cheyenne Pyles’ 15, but until the fourth quarter, Nardella was still single-handedly outscoring the Bruins. It was her third 20-point game of the season, and outside of a 28-point, eight-3 performance against Socastee during the Sand & Hoops Invitational in November, it was her best shooting night of the season.

It was the type of performance South Florence had to avoid to stay in the game. The Bruins dressed six players due to injuries and, after two fouled out, finished the contest with only four players on the floor. By the time any of that mattered, Carolina Forest had long since run away with the game without hardly substituting.

The 61 points was the Panthers’ most this season, and it led to a region victory for a team that has found them hard to come by. Carolina Forest, which evened its overall record at 8-8 and its early Region VI-AAAA slate at 1-1, isn’t getting ahead of itself. After all, it won only six games all of last season and three the year before. On top of that, it must turn around and face No. 8 Sumter. Carolina Forest hasn’t defeated the Gamecocks since 2010 and lost 11 straight by an average of 29 points per game.

“We’re hoping we can keep it more of a game. Sumter is so talented and athletic every year,” Hughes said. “Hopefully we can hang in there and make some big shots.”

It won’t be much of a surprise who Carolina Forest will let take them.

This story was originally published January 15, 2016 at 9:45 PM with the headline "Nardella’s 3-point barrage keys Carolina Forest past South Florence."