Indians keep Trojans winless in KMAC with 44-41 win
The Centerburg Lady Trojans remain winless in KMAC play, but it is not for lack of effort, and they have come very close to notching that elusive first conference win several times this year. They could almost smell the winner’s circle against Mount Gilead on Jan. 15 but fell just short, 44-41.
In the first, Mount Gilead took a 12-9 lead as Aubrey Thomas and Greer Simpson each scored six of the Lady Indians’ 12. Four girls divided nine first-quarter points for the Lady Trojans.
Another 12-9 score in the second gave the Indians a 24-18 halftime lead. For the second quarter in a row, Mount Gilead got all scoring from two girls. This time, Faith White hit one from beyond the arc and two 2-pointers while Madilyn Elson netted a three and a deuce for the Indians. Kayla Larimore hit three twos and Chloe Goulter drained a three in the second for Centerburg.
In the third, the Lady Trojans had their biggest quarter of the night, with 16 points, led by two threes from Goulter, one from Kennedi Glenn, and scoring from five girls. But they could only gain a point on Mount Gilead, which scored 15, to take a 39-34 lead after three. The Indians kept pace on balanced scoring from five girls.
In the fourth, Centerburg could muster only seven points spread among four players, but strong defense cut the Indians' lead to three at the final buzzer.
Mount Gilead was led by Thomas with 12 points, White with 11 and Elson with 10. Centerburg’s top scorers were Goulter and Larimore with 10 each.
With the win, Mount Gilead improved to 5-8 overall and 2-7 in KMAC, while Centerburg fell to 1-12 and is still winless in KMAC at 0-9.
Northridge regains composure, tops Utica girls in OT, 61-56
A low-scoring first half gave way to a scoreboard light-up in the second, as visiting Utica rebounded from a seven-point deficit at halftime to force overtime against host Northridge. With four girls in double figured for Northridge, the Lady Vikings lost momentum in the fourth, but came back to dominate overtime to win, 61-56, Jan. 15.
Home cooking was the key as the Northridge Vikings had only one win coming in and improved to 2-11 and 1-4 in conference play. They came on at the end to gain revenge for the 51-34 shellacking Utica put on them at Utica on Dec. 3. The loss dropped Utica to 3-10 and 1-7 in league play.
Northridge took a 9-5 lead after one, and the low-scoring first half ended with a 20-13 Lady Vikings lead. Both teams lit up the nets in the third, with the Lady Redskins owning a 21-20 advantage to trim the lead to six. Utica controlled the flow in the fourth and had Northridge on its heels, clinging to a 52-52 tie at the end of regulation.
But Northridge regrouped after the time out and won the extra frame, 9-4, to win the game as well.
