Centre girls are third in league tournament
The Centre High School Lady Cougars were hoping to repeat their performance of a year ago, when they won the league tournament. But that was not to be.
They had no problem defeating Elyria Christian at home in the first round of the tournament, but lost to Wakefield in the semi-finals at Solomon.
That left them facing Solomon in the final round. While snow was falling outside, they defeated Solomon to take third place.
White City 36, Centre 48
The low-scoring game against White City Saturday found Centre up by one, 10-9, at the end of the first quarter.
A 14-6 second quarter gave them a nine-point lead at halftime, and a 17-6 third quarter built the lead to 20 points.
But the Lady Cougars were surprised in the fourth quarter when White City scored 15 points, mostly on three-point shots. Centre scored seven for a 12-point win.
Teaira Turner scored 11 points, followed by Selena Seifert and Megan Gutsch with 10 each.
Wakefield 51, Centre 42
The Lady Cougars defeated Wakefield by 24 points Dec. 15 on the home court, but Friday's semifinal game was a different story.
Centre had the lead most of the first quarter, but the two teams finished almost even, with Centre down by one, 14-15.
After the game was tied at 19-19 halfway into the second quarter, a strong Wakefield team built an eight-point lead, 29-21, by halftime.
The Lady Cougars came back strong in the opening minute of the third quarter, scoring six unanswered points to come within two, 27-29.
After that, the team seemed to fall apart as the Lady Bombers continued to control the game. At one point, they had a 17-point lead.
The frustrated Lady Cougars didn't give up, though. As the fourth quarter wound down, they reduced the gap to 10 points on good shooting by Gutsch and a three-point shot by Brittany Owens. A layup by Alyssa Luna brought the team to within nine points as the disappointing game ended.
Gutsch was the only Centre player in double digits with 10 points.
Elyria 19, Centre 63
The first round game against Elyria was a breeze as the Lady Cougars walked away with a 46-point win.
Almost every member of the team scored points including Luna 12, Gutsch 10, Shelby Deines and Samantha Alvarez nine each, Kylie Burhoop eight, Turner six, Owens five, and Seifert and Carlye Simons two each.
Their overall record at the end of the tournament stood at 9-3.
