By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

It seemed like an endless game Saturday as the Centre Lady Cougars battled Hope through regulation play and four overtimes in the championship game of the Cougar Classic tournament. The game ended with a disappointing two-point deficit, 47-45, for the Lady Cougars.

They got to the championship by defeating Wakefield, 58-15, Jan. 15 in the first round, and Elyria Christian Friday, 42-30, in the semifinals.

The two sides were neck-and-neck most of the way. Hope played a delay game and went on a 9-point roll in the first quarter to take a 14-7 lead. After two free throws by Makenzie Deines and baskets by Cacey Simons and Genesis Rudolph, the Lady Cougars closed the gap to four, 17-13, by the end of the quarter.

There wasn’t much scoring in the second quarter, but Centre tied the game with two minutes and 40 seconds remaining in the first half. Centre led 20-18 at the buzzer.

The third quarter started with a tying shot by Hope, one of many ties that followed as both teams vied for supremacy. The game was tied at 26 after the third quarter.

Beka Basore, Shelby Makovec, and Bryanna Svoboda joined Rudolph and Deines in scoring for the team in the fourth quarter. Makovec made a final basket to tie the game at 37-37 and send it into a four-minute overtime.

Each team scored four points. Basore made a layup and Makovec a free throw to give Centre a 40-38 lead. However, a Hope player made two free throws with one second remaining to tie the game.

In the second overtime, Deines scored three points, matching three by Hope. Both teams scored two points in the third overtime. Deines gave Centre a two-point lead before Hope tied the game with two free throws at 45-all.

Deines made another basket in the fourth overtime but not before Hope went ahead 49-45 with a basket and two free throws, winning by two points, 49-47.

Deines scored 13 points in the game, seven of them in the four overtimes. Makovec also scored 13 points. Rudolph had eight points, Svoboda five, and Basore and Simons four each.

Elyria

Centre led 20-13 at halftime of Friday’s game against Elyria Christian, but Elyria came back strong in the third quarter, narrowing the lead to two points. A 15-5 fourth quarter for the Lady Cougars resulted in a 12-point victory.

Simons made 12 points and Makovec 10. They both received all-team honors at the end of the tournament. Other scorers were Svoboda, six, and Rudolph and Deines, five each.