Quick starts spark Irish girls

Central's Courtney Trenchik and Scott's Kendra Rison fight for a rebound last night. Central remained unbeaten in the City.

The Blade/Jeremy Wadsworth
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Central's Courtney Trenchik and Scott's Kendra Rison fight for a rebound last night. Central remained unbeaten in the City.

The Scott girls basketball team has come a long way since last season, but not far enough to knock off defending City League champion Central Catholic.

Central's fast starts in each half made the difference as the Irish (6-4, 5-0) held on to a share of first place in the league last night with a 63-47 win at Scott.

Illinois-bound senior center Brianna Jones topped the Irish with 17 points and 12 rebounds, and got plenty of help. Sierra Calhoun had 14 points for Central and Ashley Sujkwoski and Emily Sifuentes added nine points apiece as the Irish shot 51 percent (27 of 53) from the field.

"I was glad to see us come out and shoot the ball," Central coach Steve Pfahler said. "The last few games we had too much emphasis on getting the ball into Crunch [Jones], and the rest of the kids were standing around.

"Tonight we did a better job of distributing and getting stuff around to everybody, and we knocked down shots when we needed to."

Central s Brianna Jones grabs a rebound while surrounded by Scott players. Jones had 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Bulldogs (9-2, 4-1), who have already surpassed their 6-13, 4-7 finish of last season, saw roadblocks to win No. 10 come in the first and third quarters.

Central built a 20-9 lead after one quarter and - after Scott used an 11-3 run to pull within 32-24 at halftime - the Irish broke things open with an 11-0 surge to start the second half.

The first seven points during this game-breaking stretch all came from the left baseline. Calhoun netted a 3-pointer and Sifuentes nailed back-to-back 15-footers to give Central a 39-24 lead 1:29 into the third quarter.

Sujkowski then scored on a transition layup, and Jones capped the 11-0 run on a putback with 4:57 left in the period.

"We just had to come in with a focus," Jones said. "Scott is a good team and they're very disciplined. Coach [Pfahler] has been stressing that we have to play with composure and be mentally tough. We did a pretty good job at the start, and that gave us a confidence boost early."

Scott, which finally ended that surge on two free throws from Skyler Gregory at the 4:40 mark, got no closer than 15 points from there, and trailed by as many as 22 late in the fourth quarter.

Scott was led by Shekinah Alexander, who mixed four 3-pointers into her 14 points, and grabbed five rebounds. Gregory and Kendra Rison added 11 points each for the Bulldogs, who shot 32 percent (15 of 47) from the field and 52 percent (12 of 23) from the line.

"Central has a great program and they know everything that was on the table," said Scott assistant coach Louis Davis, speaking for head coach Debra Jones, who was ill. "Our girls, not being that position before, didn't realize it until later in the game. The thing we have to learn to do is carry out the task.

"They did that in the second quarter but, unfortunately, when we had the break at halftime, they relaxed a little bit and [Central] ran off those 11 points."

Contact Steve Junga at:

sjunga@theblade.com

or 419-724-6461.