By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

The Lady Cougars defeated Hope Friday, 63-48.

The victory improved their record to 7-3 overall as they headed into the Cougar Classic this week as the top seed.

Genesis Rudolph made two shots, Bryanna Svoboda one, and Shelby Makovec had one plus a free throw to give Centre a 9-0 lead.

Hope scored six points after the 4 minutes, 20 seconds mark, and Beka Basore and Cacey Simons each made a basket for a 13-6 lead by the Lady Cougars after one quarter.

The game remained tight in the second quarter as Hope got within two points. Centre led, 23-19, at halftime.

The Lady Cougars began to pull away in the third quarter, outscoring Hope 14-9 to take an 11-point lead.

After a 26-20 fourth quarter, Centre finished with a 15-point victory.

Four Lady Cougars scored in double figures: Simons, 19; and Makovec, Rudolph, and Makenzie Deines, 10 each. Basore had eight points and Bryanna Svoboda, six.

Little River

The girls were defeated Jan. 8 in a 38-31 home game against Little River.

The Lady Cougars trailed by three points at the end of the first quarter and never did catch up.

Field goals by Basore and Shelby Makovec brought Centre within one point early in the second quarter, but that is as close as they got.

Little River led by seven points at halftime and 11 points after three quarters.

Centre trailed by 12 points several times in the final quarter but closed the gap to seven before the buzzer sounded.

Deines led scoring with 11 points. Simons had 7; Shelby Makovec, 5; Amy Makovec, 4; and Genesis Rudolph and Basore, 2 each.

The junior varsity defeated Little River, 37-27. Ally Basore led scoring with 13 points. Other scorers were Callie Riffel, 8; Abigail Svoboda, 7; Brenna Shields, 5; and Taylor Peterson and Kailyn Riffel, 2 each.