Hot-shooting Knights rout South Hagerstown

February 21, 2009|By CURT HORNBECKER/Staff Correspondent

Joel Beard knew his Century girls basketball team shot the ball well, but he didn't how well.

To South Hagerstown coach Amy Schmuck, it was painfully obvious.

Century drained 17 of 29 first-half field goals, including 6 of 10 from beyond the arc, to shoot down the Rebels 76-44 in an MVAL intraconference game Friday night.

"We knew they were a good basketball team," said Schmuck. "Shooting the ball that well is what gave them that big lead, and we could never come back from that."

It didn't help matters that Century's pressure defense wreaked havoc for much of the first half, forcing 13 Rebels turnovers.

Indeed, South (6-14) was outgunned from the start, as the Knights (17-5) built a 10-point lead at the end of the first period, and used a 24-6 second-half run to claim a 46-20 advantage at the half, despite missing two starters due to injury and illness.

Kate Schwartzmann's 14 points sparked a 27-point second quarter for Century and the Rebels had no answers.

"We were fortunate enough that some of our younger kids really stepped up and did a good job tonight," said Beard. "We try to teach the kids to be balanced (offensively), but if it's there, shoot it until we tell you not to."

Not only was South unable to find a defensive answer to the Knights' torrid shooting, but the Rebels couldn't get much going offensively either.

"We came out really flat tonight, offensively and defensively," said Schmuck. "The intensity just wasn't there, but this was our third game this week."

The only real spark for South came at the outset of the fourth quarter -- long after the outcome had been decided -- when Alex Silva and Emma Stahl combined for nine points in an 11-4 run.

But the Knights rebounded to score 12 of the game's final 14 points.

While Century did the bulk of its damage in the first half, the Knights didn't slow down much after the intermission, hitting 25 of 53 field goals for the game, and 9 of 16 3-pointers.

Silva's 15 points led South, with Kayla Freeman adding 12 and Stahl 10, but the Rebels were unable to get any scoring from their bench.

Century 76, South Hagerstown 44
CENTURY (17-5)
Roche 7, Schwartzmann 24, McKeiver 6, Spencer 14, Collins 2, Lockhart 13, S. Flister 2, Mercer 6, A. Flister 2, Totals 25 17-23 76.
SOUTH HAGERSTOWN (6-14)
Jefferson 4, Silva 15, Freeman 12, Thornton 3, Stahl 10, Totals 18 5-10 44.
Century 19 27 14 16 -- 76
SouthÂ Â 9 11 11 13 -- 44
3-point goals -- Century 9 (Schwartzmann 4, Spencer 2, Lockhart 3). South 3 (Silva 2, Thornton). JV -- Century, 45-17 (C: Kayla Avery 9, SH: Kayle Groover 5).

|

|

|