Staff writer
After consecutive victories against Herington and Peabody-Burns by both Centre girls and boys teams, Little River came to town Friday and defeated them. The boys lost, 70-58; the girls, 54-40.
Boys
The Cougars had a great first half against the state-ranked Redskins. Jensen Riffel, Xavier Espinoza, and Jacob Hird led the way to an 18-16 lead after one quarter.
The Cougars built a seven-point lead in the second quarter on eight points by Hird and two by Espinoza. Then, Little River went on a scoring spree of 12 points to take a 33-28 point lead.
Riffel followed with a basket and Dalton Stika made a trey. The half ended with Centre trailing by three points, 36-33.
The Cougars lost their scoring momentum in the second half. They trailed by as much as 19 points in the fourth quarter and clawed their way back to a 12-point loss.
The team scored 41.7 percent from the field. Hird scored a game-high 22 points. Both teams had 28 rebounds.
Scoring summary — Hurd, 22; Espinoza, 13; Riffel, 11; Stika, 9; Lane Methvin, 2; Tanner Wiggans, 1.
Girls
“Tenacious” is girls’ coach Alan Stahlecker’s favorite adjective to describe his team. The eight players faced a team with 17 on its roster. But that didn’t keep the Cougars from giving it their all. They trailed by three points, 12-9, when Emily Casey made a trey at the end of the first quarter to tie the game at 12-12.
After a 16-16 tie in the second quarter, Little River went on a seven-point run to lead 23-16 at halftime.
The girls continued to fight and trailed by 10 points late in the third quarter before making a comeback. A basket by Samantha Espinoza as the fourth quarter opened brought Centre within four points, 40-36, but that’s as close as they got. Kelsey Hett made a trey and a free throw for a total of 6 points by Centre, but Little River scored 14 points to win the game.
Scoring summary — Allie Hird, 13; Alyssa Espinoza, 10; Hett, 7; Espinoza, 4; Casey, 3; Alex Remmers, 2; Carly Deines, 1.
Tuesday games
Centre girls opened the Cougar Classic with a win Tuesday, beating Peabody-Burns 63-24.
The boys team also started the tournament Tuesday against Peabody-Burns, --.
The wins raise both Centre teams to 6-4 on the year.
Last modified Jan. 17, 2019