CJHS girls finish third in tourney
Centre Junior High girls defeated Prairie Heights Saturday, 33-23, in the league basketball tournament at Manhattan, to take third place.
They won the first round Jan. 29, defeating St. Xavier, 39-24, and lost to Luckey Thursday, 38-15.
In Saturday's game, Prairie Heights took the lead, 7-4, at the end of the first quarter, but by halftime the Lady Cougars had pulled ahead to lead 15-12.
They surged ahead in the third quarter on dismal shooting by Prairie Heights, which scored one point compared to 11 by Centre.
Although outscored 7-10 by Prairie Heights in the final quarter, the girls took home a 10-point victory and respectable third place finish.
Shelby Deines and Leann Pankratz led scoring with nine points each. Danielle Tajchman added eight, Josie Peterson three, Bridgette Burns two, and Katie Johnson and Carlye Simons one each.
In the second-round game Thursday, the Lady Cougars had a difficult time against a better Luckey team. They found it difficult to get inside and scored poorly down the stretch.
Although trailing by just one point, 11-12, at halftime, they scored 11 points in the second half compared to 18 by Luckey for the 23-point loss.
Tajchman led with eight points, followed by Burns three, and Deines and Pankratz two each.
The team ended the season with an 8-5 record overall.
