CHS teams defeated in second round regional play
After getting past the first round of the IA regional tournament, Centre girls' and boys' basketball teams were defeated in the second round, ending their seasons.
The boys defeated White City 63-56 Feb. 18 at home in the opening round. Both teams had records of 8-11.
Centre led the entire game, with quarterly scores of 16-12, 27-21, 41-33, and 63-56. Justin Makovec chalked up 15 points, followed by Todd Stahlecker, 13, and Curtis Gutsch, 12.
In the battle Thursday with top-ranked St. Xavier at Junction City, the boys were up against several 6'8" players, giving St. Xavier the inside advantage.
The Cougars played hard right to the end. After being down 9-17 at the end of the first quarter and 24-33 at half-time, they fought back to get within three with less than a minute to go in the third quarter. They ended the quarter down by five, 40-45.
A valiant effort in the fourth quarter kept the game close. Two free-throws by Grant Garrard brought the Cougars within one, 54-55, with one minute remaining.
St. Xavier answered with two free-throws of its own, putting it up by three. In the following possession, Travis Burns traveled, turning the ball over. A 5-second call on St. Xavier at :20 gave Centre another chance, but a three-point attempt by Todd Stahlecker failed.
Centre's leading post-man, Grant Garrard, in his final game as a CHS player, led scoring with 18 points. Stahlecker netted 17 points. Other scorers were: Curtis Gutsch, 9; Kyle Luna, 8; and Justin Makovec, 2.
The Goessel Bluebirds played St. Xavier in the Saturday championship game and were defeated 67-65 in overtime.
Girls
The Lady Cougars (7-12) easily defeated St. Xavier (6-10), 57-40, in a first-round game Feb. 19 at Junction City.
Laura Klenda led Centre in scoring with 18 points, followed By Alisha Loveless with 15. Others who contributed points were: Ashlee Bowman, 7; Andrea Stahlecker, 6; Stephanie Hajek, 5; Raschelle Jirak, 4; and Kathleen Meek, 2.
The girls were defeated Thursday, 54-35, by an undefeated Hope team in the second round of the tournament.
Fouls and turnovers seemed to contribute to the loss. Centre had 27 fouls compared to 12 by Hope. Hope completed 22 of 38 free-throw attempts while Centre completed 11 of 11.
Klenda led scoring with 14 points. She also had 10 rebounds and three steals. Loveless and Jirak added 7 points each, Bowman added 5, and Fenske added 2.
Hope defeated Goessel Saturday in the championship game, 45-33.
