Home > Sports > HSC tops Centura | web-posted Tuesday, February 12, 2008
HSC tops Centura
Independent/Scott Kingsley
Hastings St. Cecilia's Kristine Batenhorst shoots over Centura's Tonya Turek during the first half Monday of the Class C-1, Subdistrict 8 tournament at Grand Island Senior High.
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Hastings St. Cecilia's Kristine Batenhorst shoots over Centura's Tonya Turek during the first half Monday of the Class C-1, Subdistrict 8 tournament at Grand Island Senior High.
Independent/Scott Kingsley
Wood River's Nicole Mead dribbles away from the pressure of Doniphan-Trumbull'sDayna Kathman during their subdistrict matchup at Grand Island Senior High School.
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For three quarters, upset-minded Centura gave Hastings St. Cecilia all it could handle Monday in the first round of the Class C-1, Subdistrict 8 tournament.
But while the Centurions ran out of steam after three quarters, the Hawkettes heated up to pull away for a deceptive 63-46 victory at Grand Island Senior High.
Hastings St. Cecilia (11-7) overcame a woeful 2-for-19 shooting performance in the second quarter by making 18 of 31 shots after halftime.
"It was a tale of two halves," Hawkette coach Jahn Kile said. "I told the girls at halftime that we were taking good shots. So many were going in-and-out. That let (Centura) creep back in. I knew if we kept shooting, we'd start making them."
Centura (6-13) led with a couple of minutes left in the third quarter before the momentum shifted for good.
St. Cecilia went on a 7-0 run over the final 1 minute, 11 seconds of the quarter to go ahead 42-38.
Then a pair of 3-pointers by freshman Abby Jackson and one by senior Morgan Dubas helped the Hawkettes go up 51-41 with 5:16 remaining.
While Hastings St. Cecilia's shooting heated up, Centura's was almost nonexistent due to turnovers. The Centurions turned the ball over 27 times in the game, including eight in the final quarter.
"We got tired," Centura coach Kathy Mettenbrink said. "We got lazy with passes. We turned the ball over out front too much. When you turn it over out front, that turns into easy lay-ups for them.
"We played three great quarters of basketball. The fourth one hurt us."
Dubas scored 13 of her game-high 22 points in the second half.
"Morgan sparked us in the second half," Kile said. "She gave us the senior leadership we needed."
Hastings St. Cecilia got out to a quick 7-0 start by making its first three shots. Centura played it even the rest of the first quarter and ran off 10 unanswered points to close out the first half and take a 23-19 advantage.
The Centurions outscored the Hawkettes 15-4 in the second quarter despite attempting 13 fewer shots.
"They were cold in the first half and shot well in the second half," Mettenbrink said. "Against both zone and man, they shot well."
Alexis Schmidt added 10 points for St. Cecilia, with eight of them coming in the fourth.
Freshman Abby Suntych led Centura with 14 points. Christa Krolikwoski and Tonya Turek each added 12 while Megan Moss had a game-high 12 rebounds.
Mettenbrink felt her young team which doesn't start a senior displayed the progress it has made.
"We showed a lot of improvement and came together as a team," she said. "We are kind of young, but every game we got better. I wish we could play the first half of the season over."
The Hawkettes advance to today's 7:45 p.m. semifinal against No. 5-rated St. Paul.
"It'll be tough," Kile said. "We can't have any quarter like the second quarter we had tonight. You can't have a four-point quarter and beat them. If we shoot the ball like we did in the second half, we'll have a chance to win it. If we don't, we won't."
Wood River didn't allow a field goal for the first 7 minutes, 25 seconds of the game en route to a 61-28 victory over Doniphan-Trumbull.
That defensive performance along with a strong effort by post Markeya Dubbs inside on the offensive end set the pace for the Eagles (8-11).
"I told the girls defense would be big tonight," Wood River coach Darren Parlin said. "Last Friday (in a 38-22 win) we did not shoot particularly well against them. But we played good defense and held them to 22 points."
By the time Doniphan-Trumbull (5-16) made its first field goal, it trailed 12-4. Wood River followed that up with a 16-2 run to take command.
Dubbs led the Eagles with a game-high 20 points. She got the ball down low early and often, leading to several trips to the free throw line.
"Markeya was aggressive early," Parlin said. "Some other girls were nervous, so Markeya put us on her back for a while."
Lacey Woitaszewski came off the bench to added 10 points for the Eagles, who face No. 6-rated Minden today at 6 p.m.
Just like in Monday's game, Wood River will be playing an opponent it saw last week when the Whippets picked up a 63-54 home win.
"We played them Thursday and shot the ball well against them," Parlin said. "I'm not crazy enough to think that we'll shoot like that again. But we'll do our best and hope to give them a game."
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