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Well-oiled Chargers too much for Centurions in 83-60 loss
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Despite a valiant comeback effort, the ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝ Centurions women’s basketball team was unable to overcome a long lull between games and a hot, undefeated Marian University Ancilla Chargers team in its 83-60 loss Friday, Nov. 15.
After winning their first game of the season Nov. 1 – and the first for the program that was rejuvenated after 40 years in hiatus – the next two games scheduled for the Centurions (0-0 ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝AA Northern, 1-1 overall) were canceled and postponed, respectively, which created a two-week lull until they faced the Chargers (0-0 ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝AA Western, 5-0 overall), who came into the game on a four-game winning streak.
“That was a pretty good team out there. They gave us kind of an idea of how well the league is,” said Centurions Head Coach Scott Pedigo. “They’re 5-0 now. But I’m proud of the girls that we played hard. There were a few opportunities for (Marian) to get out of control, but we fought back, even came back by nine, but we ran out of gas.”
Rust showed in ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝â€™s game as the Centurions came up empty on offense their first four chances and, on defense, had four consecutive defensive fouls, allowing the Chargers to go up 8-0 until freshman guard Emily Putnam (Sheridan, Mich.) hit a three-pointer at the top of the key at the six-minute mark to cut the Chargers’ lead to 8-3.
Despite the Chargers’ tight man defense, ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝ battled back to within two, at 10-8, with both teams trading baskets until Marian got back-to-back steals, pushing its lead to 19-14 and cashing in on a rebound-putback shot by center Beauti Santiago under the basket just before the first quarter buzzer sounded, putting the Chargers up 21-14.
“They killed us on offensive boards, and I think that was the biggest difference,” Pedigo said. “We gotta box out. I think we did really good with forcing them into a shot clock situation, so I felt that was good for us. But we just have to be better at stopping second-chance baskets.”
In the second quarter, things began to unravel a bit for ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝ as Marian’s hot shooting and stingy defense continued with the Chargers building up a 20-point lead after hitting three three-pointers and earning three steals along the way. The Chargers went into halftime with a 44-29 lead.
In the third quarter, Marian again pushed its lead to 20 after an inside shot by freshman forward Santana Eubanks, who finished with 22 points, making the Chargers’ lead 49-29 with 8:41 to go in the quarter.
Despite Marian increasing its lead to 25 points, the Centurions kept battling and finally were able to build some momentum after Putnam hit back-to-back shots, a three-pointer off an in-bound pass, and an impressive turnaround jumper, to make the score 54-34 with 7:10 to go in the third quarter.
ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝ continued to push on offense, as sophomore guard Makenna Rautio (Big Rapids, Mich.) hit a shot for two and then assisted on a three-point make by freshman guard Grace Riley (Grand Ledge, Mich.), cutting Marian’s lead to 15, at 56-41.
Two minutes later, Rautio stole a Chargers pass, fed it to Putnam on the other end, who missed her shot, but freshman forward Emma Rewa (Greenville, Mich.) managed to rebound the ball and get a shot under the bucket, pulling ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝ within 16 points.
The Centurions then shot back-to-back three-pointers from Putnam to cut the Chargers’ lead to 64-51 to finish out the quarter, giving ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝ needed momentum going into the final quarter. Had the Centurions had more live-game action before facing Marian, Rautio believes there may have been a better outcome in Friday’s game.
Marian took the wind out of ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝â€™s momentum with offensive rebounds and second-chance shots, which helped the Chargers go on an 11-5 run, pushing the lead up to 22 points (77-55) with 5:37 to go in the game, virtually sealing their fifth consecutive win on the season.
“There was a little lull as far as energy with practices, but with these last few we were able to bring up our energy a bit,” Rautio said. “Game-wise, it’s hard to start out with the first game being the first (with the new program), and with both of the next two games gone, mentally, it was a little hard, but I think we handled it as well as we could.”
Putnam finished with a career-high 26 points and Rautio added nine points.
Marian’s Eubanks and freshman guard Annika Davis (23 points) combined for more than half of the team’s points, also getting 16 points from sophomore guard Nasiya Gause.
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UP NEXT: With the Nov. 23 game against Community Christian cancelled, ĐÇżŐ´«Ă˝â€™s next road game will be a rematch with Marian University Ancilla at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23.
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