Centre women rally for 63-57 rally at Oglethorpe in regular season finale

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The Centre women's basketball team avenged a home loss from three weeks ago as they defeated the Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels on the road, 63-54, in the final game of the 2014-15 regular season.

Olivia Colliver (Mount Sterling, Ky.) led Centre with 15 points and eight rebounds while Michele Judy (Crittenden, Ky.) added 12 points on 5-7 shooting from the floor. Oglethorpe's Ciaira Hughes posted game highs of 21 points and 16 rebounds.

The Petrels led for the majority of the first half, gradually building their lead as the half progressed. A three-pointer by McKenzie Fortson brought Oglethorpe its biggest lead of the day at 34-21 with 29 seconds remaining in the half before a pair of free throws by Kaitlyn McKnight (Lebanon Junction, Ky.) capped off the first half scoring with the Colonels down by 11 points.

Trailing 36-24 early in the second half, the Colonels picked up their intensity on defense and went on a 17-0 run, capped off by consecutive three-pointers from Bonnie Rhule (Versailles, Ky.) and a layup by Olivia Colliver. Centre held Oglethorpe without a field goal for over nine minutes in the second half as they regained the lead. Oglethorpe would tie the game at 42-42 on a pair of free throws by Hughes, but Colliver and Judy would key another Colonels run, this time nine consecutive points capped off by a layup from Maggie Hartlage (Louisville, Ky.) that made it 51-42 and effectively put the game away.

In a game where neither team shot the ball well, it was the ability of the Colonels to draw fouls and convert from the free throw line that made the biggest difference. Centre shot 29-38 (76.3%) from the charity stripe compared to 14-21 (66.7%) for the Stormy Petrels. Another difference maker was the Colonels' three-point defense, as they held Oglethorpe to just 6-33 shooting from long distance.

The Colonels moved into a tie with Oglethorpe for fifth place in the SAA with their win today. Centre now moves on to the SAA Tourmanentat top seed Millsaps, where the Colonels will take on No. 3 seeded Rhodes in a quarterfinal at 8 p.m. CST on Friday.