It was a slam dunk for the Centre High School girls’ basketball team Dec. 16 as they defeated White City on the home court, 56-28.

The outcome wasn’t certain until the second half, when the Lady Huskies got into foul trouble and several starters sat on the bench.

In fact, White City led 8-5 after one quarter, and it wasn’t until more than three minutes into the second quarter Centre finally tied the game and went ahead.

The team trailed by five when a technical on the White City coach after a foul sent Shelby Deines to the line for four free-throw attempts. She made three of them to close the gap to two, 11-9.

Ripley Howard followed with a field goal to tie the game at 11-all. White City and Centre’s Deines each made two free-throws to keep the game tied, and White City went ahead, 14-13, after another free throw.

That was the last time White City led, and from then on the game belonged to the Lady Cougars. Good shooting by Leann Pankratz led Centre to a six-point lead, 23-17, at halftime.

Carlye Simons and Josie Peterson were added to the list of scorers in the third quarter, helping Centre to a 15-point lead, 38-23.

White City added only five points in the fourth quarter while Centre added 18 for a whopping 28-point victory.

Deines had an outstanding game, scoring at least 22 points. Pankratz also scored in double figures, with 17 points.

The junior varsity defeated White City 25-10. They led 16-6 at halftime and outscored White City 9-4 in the second half to win by a hefty 15 points.

Amanda Floyd scored 10 points. Other scorers were Tori Marler and Ripley Howard, four points each; D.J. Turner, three; and Katie Remy and Josie Peterson, two points each.