Carter, Mustangs push pace from start

A game that began as personal for Morgan Park’s Kiara Carter became just another game after one of her closest friends, Metea Valley guard Bria Walker, left the game with an apparent knee injury a few seconds into the second half Saturday.

To the untrained eye, however, the whole game looked personal for Carter.

The 5-8 senior had 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals to help No. 7 Morgan Park defeat Metea Valley 64-50 at the 23rd annual McDonald’s Shootout hosted by Willowbrook.

Morgan Park (16-2) ran out to a 17-4 lead after six minutes and never led by fewer than six after that. Metea Valley closed to within 31-25 on basket by 6-2 senior Lori Obendorf (21 points, 15 rebounds), but could get no closer.

“When we start out we’re very intense, very hyped because we want to win,” Carter said. “We started out doing good, playing good defense, getting some fast breaks throughout the game.”

After Obendorf pulled Metea Valley to within six, Morgan Park embarked on a 22-10 run to open its biggest lead at 53-35 with 7:31 remaining in the contest.

Taylore Cephas (13 points), Bhrea Griffin (12), Kierra Graves (11) and Khalilah Morrow (nine points, 10 rebounds) contributed to Morgan Park’s balanced attack.

Nia Flowers added 14 points and five rebounds for Metea Valley (185), which lost 6-2 forward Anna Petersen (ACL) around Christmas and now faces the prospect of losing its starting point guard.

“At some point, we’re going to catch a break,” said Metea Valley coach Kris Kalivas, who added that Walker will get an MRI on Monday. “We started off a little scared and throughout the game we struggled to finish.’’