Central girls come up short against Kendrick
Future opponents for the Kendrick girls would be wise to prepare for the Cherokees by playing against six defenders.
Trapping from a press in the fullcourt most of the game and in the halfcourt all of it, Kendrick built a big lead early then coasted home to a 53-36 victory in its GHSA Region 2-AAA game against Central on Tuesday. The Cherokees (19-1, 11-0 Region 2-AAA) forced the Chargers (11-6, 9-2) into 32 turnovers, converting 14 of them into baskets, on the way to their 14th straight win.
The Cherokees never trailed and were tied just once after the opening tip. That came at 5 just 90 seconds into the game.
Kendrick led 20-9 after a quarter and 40-17 at halftime, finally building the lead to as many as 25 points. Central outscored the Cherokees 19-13 in the second half.
FOUR WHO MATTERED
Raven Baker: The wing player led the Cherokees with 12 points, all but two coming in the game's first 11 minutes.
Oriyana Babatua: The guard followed Baker with 11 points.
ReNesha Goolsby, JaNya Wilders: The pair led the Chargers with 12 points each. All of Goolsby's points came on 3-pointers while Wilders went out in the final quarter with a knee injury.
TURNING POINT
Kendrick took command with a 17-2 run during a six-minute period that spanned the first and second quarters. After Wilder's layup got the Chargers within 9-7, the Cherokees got the spurt started with three straight baskets off turnovers before Jada Clowers scored on a follow-up for Central. The Cherokees capped the surge with 11 straight points to lead 26-9 with six minutes remaining in the first half.
OBSERVATIONS
Points in the paint: If the Cherokees aren't getting layups off transition, they're scoring on second- and third-chance points in the lane. Fifteen of Kendrick's 25 baskets came from inside. The Cherokees had only one 3-point basket, that coming in the first minute from Babatua.
WORTH MENTIONING
Sweet 16: Kendrick had 16 steals among the 32 turnovers it forced.
One and done: The Cherokees allowed Central to score consecutive baskets only twice. The first occasion tied the score at 5, and the second, a pair of 3-pointers from Goolsby, got the Chargers within 43-25 entering the final quarter.
Spurtability: With its press forcing the issue and creating a host of chances in transition, Kendrick had runs of six points or more four times, topped by the 11-pointer during the surge that broke the game open.
ALSO TUESDAY NIGHT
Central's boys knocked off Kendrick 86-74 behind 23 points each from Anterious McCoy and Derrick Evans Jr.
THEY SAID IT
Central head coach Sheila Toombs: "(Kendrick) never let up. Start putting that kind of pressure on you, your mind starts telling you to do things you wouldn't usually do. Your mind just takes off on you. You're normally going at another speed and the pressure pushes you to another level and that can end in mistakes."
Kendrick head coach Sterling Hicks: "It wasn't pretty, but we came out with the win and that's what you want. We need the transition game. We miss a lot of layups so we need to shoot them."
Toombs on an improved second half: "Girls never gave up. We have to turn it up as well. We're not going to fold in our house. We kept pressing, started to rebound better and hit some shots. I was proud of the way we finished."
Hicks on second half: "We definitely relaxed. We have to learn from that. We need to get mentally tough. This was our fourth game in five days so I think we lost our legs a little, too."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Central plays Friday at Jackson.
This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Central girls come up short against Kendrick ."