Kayla Larimore once again paced the offense for the Centerburg girls’ basketball team, putting up 19 points to beat the KMAC leading Cardington-Lincoln Pirates 52-44 in front of a home crowd.
The two teams are atop the Knox Morrow Catholic Athletic Conference, with the Pirates first at 7-2 and Centerburg at 6-2. Cardington has a 10-6 overall record, while Centerburg is 10-3.
Centerburg went up 13-10 in the first quarter, led by Larimore, Chesnee Fairall and Clara Johnson with four points apiece. The Pirates were led by Abbi Hardwick’s five points including a three. Kinstin Henthorn also drained a three for the Cardington-Lincoln.
Centerburg’s Kennedi Glenn went off for a pair of threes in the second quarter lead the 15-7 advantage, and the Trojans took a 28-17 halftime lead. Larimore led all scorers with eight points.
Cardington-Lincoln turned it around in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to make it a 36-31 game in favor of Centerburg. Centerburg Coach Bill Abner pointed out that this has been a pattern for the Trojans.
“We jumped out to a 32-17 lead and then I looked up and it was 36-31,” Abner said. “We've had teams on the ropes a lot this year and then allow them to get back in games. We did it the first time we played Mt. Gilead and in the double OT loss at Danville. And we knew Cardington wasn't going to quit. We talked about it at halftime. We know they erased an 18 point deficit against Fredericktown and we knew they'd try to make a run. I'm just proud of the kids for weathering the storm and finishing, but we cannot continue to do this and expect to win the league."
Jill Bertke put up seven points and Madison Caulkins had five points in the quarter. Tiara Sheppard and Larimore each had four points for the Trojans.
Centerburg finished out strong with a 16-13 fourth quarter to hang on for what was a key conference win over the KMAC leader.
Larimore scored 19 points in the win for Centerburg. Glenn had nine points, all coming on threes.
“Scoring-wise, I thought we had good balance,” Coach Abner said. “Their 1-2-2 zone is tough because they have active length and I thought we did a good job getting everyone involved. Seven kids scored and we're a better team when we can do that. We also went 10-for-15 from the foul line and unlike the Mount. Gilead game where we went a ridiculous 2-for-13, it was nice to see us convert on some of those."
Kenlee Fairall and Sheppard each had six points, Johnson had five points, Chesnee Fairall scored four points and Evie Stowe put up three points on foul shots in the fourth quarter.
“We knew we had to have this one if we wanted a shot at winning the league,” Abner said. “Cardington is very talented, well coached and has been here before. We absolutely had to hold serve at home. I thought we played well. I wasn't happy with our defense at times, but Cardington deserves some of the credit for that too. They did a very nice job on us, especially in the third quarter.”
Bertke had a double-double in the loss, putting up 15 points and 10 boards. She also had two assists, a steal and a block. Hardwick had 15 points for the Pirates, and also had five boards, an assist and a steal. Caulkins tallied five points, four boards, three assists and a block. Genevieve Longsdorf had four points, one board, one assist and one block. Henthorn had three points, two rebounds and an assist, while Magi Hallabrin chipped in with two points, four boards, two assists and two steals.
"It was a hard fought game," said Cardington-Lincoln Coach Kevin Fitzpatrick. "We faced a very athletic and aggressive team that were well schooled in the 1-3-1 defense. We had some good early looks but we weren’t able to capitalize on them."
Fitzpatrick said the Pirates played a solid first quarter, but we had a rough second quarter. He attributed this to making too many mistakes that cost them, and put them down 11 points going into the locker room. The third quarter didn't start so hot either, as they committed some turnovers and fell behind 15 points. Fitzpatrick said the team did well putting this in the rear view mirror and bouncing back despite the tough loss in an important game.
"We did a great job recovering and played a great rest of the quarter to cut the lead to five going into the fourth," Fitzpatrick said. "It was back and forth from there but we could never get closer than four. We definitely had our chances so I was pleased with that. We learned some things that I hope the kids will take into the rest of the season. Our chance at a league title is still right there and we’ll use that as motivation for our remaining league games."
