Centre girls end season at sub-state
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
The Centre Lady Cougars advanced to sub-state for the first time in seven years. They lost to St. Paul Friday, 29-40, in the semifinals of the 1A sub-state tournament held at Butler Community College, El Dorado.
The team entered the tournament with a record of 17-6 compared to St. Paul's record of 19-3.
Four seniors — Jackie Klenda, Krista Heiser, Jenna Beneke, and Ashley Griffith — played their last game for Centre High School.
Centre got off to a promising 4-0 start as Alyssa Luna made a field goal and Megan Gutsch sank two free throws.
But those four points proved to be Centre's only first-quarter points. St. Paul soon tied the game and went ahead as the Lady Cougars turned the ball over numerous times. By the end of the quarter, Centre trailed 4-11.
St. Paul played a spread-out delayed offense, allowing them to get open shots and score consistently. Centre's scoring remained cold. The girls scored just five points in the second quarter and trailed 9-20 at halftime.
Scoring almost was even in the third quarter as Gutsch added six more points for the Lady Cougars and Teaira Turner made a free throw. Centre trailed 16-26 at the end of the quarter.
The Lady Cougars got within seven points in the first part of the fourth quarter, but the Lady Indians pulled away.
Centre was down by 12, 26-38, when Luna sank a trey to close the gap to nine points. The game came to an end with two free throws by St. Paul, giving the Lady Indians an 11-point win.
The team shot 21 percent (10-of-46) from the field compared to 36 percent (12-of-33) by St. Paul. They out-rebounded St. Paul 31-27 and stole the ball 17 times compared to 13 steals by St. Paul.
"I think defensively we did a good job," said Coach Greg Wyatt. "We just didn't click offensively, although we missed six lay-ups and eight front-end free throws for a potential of 25 points. We just didn't finish the game."
Gutsch was Centre's leading scorer with 12 points, including 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. She also had 11 rebounds and six steals.
Gutsch and Selena Seifert provided three assists each.
Klenda scored four points in her final game as a Lady Cougar. She had one rebound, three assists, and two steals. Beneke provided four rebounds and Griffith three. Heiser had one steal.
The Lady Cougars closed out the 2005-06 season with a record of 17-7.
