From staff reports

WATERLOO — It’s on to the sectional semifinals for the Carroll High School girls basketball team.

Tuesday night, the Chargers dominated No. 8 Northrop, 59-38, in an IHSAA Class 4A DeKalb Sectional quarterfinal contest. It was the biggest area upset of the opening night of the 2022-23 girls state tournament.

With the win, Carroll improved to 7-15. Northrop finished 19-4.

Tuesday night’s result was quite a turnaround from the two Fort Wayne-area schools’ first meeting of the year, an 81-52 win for Northrop on Nov. 30, 2022.

This one was tight most of the evening until Carroll put together a game-clinching run late: The Chargers led 22-18 at halftime and 35-33 at the final stop before outscoring the Bruins 24-5 in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Jersey Paul led the Chargers with 19 points. Senior Taylor Fordyce added 17 with fellow senior Kayla Gibbs chipping in with nine.

Carroll moves on to Friday night’s semifinals against 5-17 East Noble, which received a first-round bye. DeKalb won the other opening round matchup Tuesday night, dispatching North Side, 58-33.

The Barons advanced to Friday night’s other semifinal game against Snider, the recipient of the other first-round bye in the DeKalb Sectional. The 12-11 Barons will meet the 18-4 Panthers at 6 p.m., with the Chargers and Knights set to tip off at approximately 7:30 p.m., 20 minutes after the end of the first contest.