Sewanee, Tenn.- Visiting Centre shot over 70% from the field in the first half of tonight's SCAC women's basketball clash in Sewanee, building a 41-19 halftime lead that they would never relinquish. The Tigers struggled to find the basket in the contest, shooting less than 30% from the field, on their way to an 82-45 loss to the Colonels.
Centre's Maggie Prewitt started things off early in the first half, draining a 3-pointer 20 seconds in to get the Colonels on the board. Sewanee's Claire Elliott (Louisville, Ky, Assumption) responded with a three of her own to even the score at 3-3 early on, but it was as close as the Tigers would get for the rest of the contest. Prewitt and Elliott again traded baskets, a trey for Prewitt and a short jumper for Elliott, before Centre went on a 6-0 run to push their lead to nine, 14-5 with 14:28 left in the first half.
Dee Bradford (Isle of Palms, S.C., First Baptist) knocked down a 3-pointer for the Tigers to make it 14-8 Centre before the two teams again traded baskets to make it 17-10 Colonels. The visitors went on a 9-2 stretch to push their lead to 14, 26-12, just past the halfway mark of the first period. The squads traded baskets again to keep the difference at 14 before Centre pushed their lead to 16 with a basket by Chelsea Benham with 6:52 remaining in the first half.
The Tigers cut the Colonel lead to 13 on two separate occasions in the next four minutes but Centre closed out the half with a 9-0 run, including a 3-point basket by Prewitt, to extend their lead to 22 heading into the locker room.
Coming out of the break, Elliott once again started things off for the Tigers, knocking down a 3-pointer just 30 seconds into the period, to cut the Colonel lead to 19, 41-22. Centre got two straight baskets to go ahead 45-22 before Dani Kabbes (Chesterfield, Mo., Villa Duchesne) knocked down a pair of free throws to cut it to 45-24. The 21-point difference was as close as the Tigers would get for the rest of the contest.
Over the next five minutes, the two teams traded baskets back and forth until the Colonels got three straight baskets from Benham to go ahead 59-30. Sewanee's Clarissa Medley (LaFollette, Tenn., J. Frank White Academy) nailed a 3-pointer to cut the Colonel lead to 26 but Centre responded with two more baskets to take their largest lead of the contest, 63-33, at the 10:58 mark. The Tigers and the Colonels continued to trade baskets for the next four minutes before Sewanee scored their last field goal of the night at the 6:41 mark. Centre used an 11-0 run to close out the half and hand the Tigers an 82-45 lead.
Sewanee's Kabbes and Centre's Paige Baechle led all scorers with 18 points apiece. Elliott added 11 points and three assists for the Tigers, who shot just 29.8% from the field in the contest. Lauren Huter added 16 for the visitors while Prewitt chipped in 15. The Colonels shot 63.8% from the field, including a 70.8% clip in the first half, going 37 of 58 in the contest. The Tigers struggled to find their touch, going 17 of 57 from the field and 7 of 24 from the 3-point line.
Sewanee only turned the ball over eight times in the contest, while Centre gave it away 11 times. The Colonels held the edge in rebounding though, grabbing 40 boards to the Tigers' 22.
Centre moves to 8-5 overall with the win and 2-2 in SCAC play. Sewanee falls to 2-9 on the year and 0-4 in conference play. The Tigers will stay at home Sunday to face DePauw University.