Staff writer
The Centre High School Lady Cougars came from behind Friday to defeat Herington, 33-28, in the second game of the preseason tournament at Herington.
Centre trailed by as much as 9 points, 16-7, in the second quarter and trailed by 8, 22-14, at halftime.
The Lady Railers’ shooting went cold in the second half. They added just 6 points including two free throws.
With four minutes and 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Bryanna Svoboda made a field goal that put Centre on top, 27-26. Amy Makovec and Allison Shields followed with two more layups plus two free throws by Shields to clinch the victory.
Altogether, Centre scored 19 points in the second half to wipe out the deficit and win by five points.
Freshman Cacey Simons was the only Centre player to score in double digits. She scored 10 points. Other scorers were Shields, 8; Anna Weber, 5; Bryanna Svoboda, 4; and Makovec, Theo Kassebaum, and Ashley Jensen, 2 each.
In a junior varsity game, Herington wiped out Centre, 54-20. Beka Basore was Centre’s leading scorer with 6 points.
Northern Heights
The Lady Cougars were defeated Thursday by 2A Northern Heights, 48-39. They trailed, 19-14, at halftime and finished with a 9-point loss.
Two Centre players scored in double digits: Simons 15, and Shields, 14. Ellie Miller added 4 points, and Bryanna Svoboda, Genesis Rudolph, and Basore added 2 each.
The junior varsity had a close contest, losing by two points. After trailing 13-6 at the end of the first quarter, they outscored Northern Heights in two of the next three quarters to narrow the gap to 2, 36-34. Rudolph led Centre’s scoring with 10 points.
Consolation
After finishing 1-1 in pool play, Centre played Wakefield Saturday for third place and was defeated, 50-35.
The Lady Cougars trailed by five points, 34-29, at the end of three quarters, but the Lady Bombers piled it on in the fourth, scoring 16 points compared with 6 by Centre.
Shields scored all of Centre’s points in the fourth quarter and led scoring for the game with 14 points. Simons scored 9 points, Svoboda 6, and Anna Weber, Miller, and Jensen, 2 each.