- 1
- 2
- next
- | single page
One win, one loss, one lesson learned.
That was the score for the Centre College women in the Country Hearth Inn/Lee’s Famous Recipe Classic this weekend at Alumni Gymnasium.
The reconfigured Colonels bounced back from a season-opening loss Friday to crush Defiance 78-42 on Saturday, doing to their opponent exactly what had been done to them some 20 hours earlier.
Centre fell behind 11-0 at the start of its game Friday against Maryville (Tenn.), but raced to a 19-5 lead in the first eight-plus minutes Saturday en route to a rout.
“We learned our lesson last night,” forward Paige Baechle said Saturday. “We did not like the feeling of being jumped on so early and getting down and getting ourselves in that hole that was really tough to get out of, so we came out and played hard today and jumped on them early.”
Baechle led Centre (1-1) in scoring in both games with 18 points against Maryville and 15 against Defiance, but in both cases there were three Colonels in double figures and a number of players with significant scoring contributions.
“We don’t want one person scoring all the points because it’s easy to guard and easy to shut down, but if we have it really spread out like it is now, that’s better for everybody, for our whole team,” Baechle said.
Only two Colonels averaged in double figures last year, when Centre went 26-4, and one of them was among eight seniors lost to graduation. Coach Wendie Austin-Robinson said her team is still a work in progress, but she liked much of what she saw in the first two games.
“We’re still figuring ourselves out and trying to play within a system. We’ve got a lot of different pieces we’re adding and doing a lot of different things,” Austin-Robinson said. “They’re showing they can score in some different ways than we thought they could.”
Most of the points during a 29-2 run in the first half Saturday came in one of two ways. There were five layups and four 3-point goals — along with seven free throws — and eight different players contributed to help Centre take a 34-7 lead with 6 minutes, 32 seconds remaining in the first half.
“I am just really proud of the girls because they expended a lot of energy last night, and they came back today from the beginning and they attacked instead of being attacked like they were last night,” Austin-Robinson said.
Austin-Robinson said the Colonels also defended well in a new system they’re still getting comfortable with.
“We’re much different defensively and still trying to figure that out and trust that system. Our seniors have played one way defensively for three years, and now we’re asking them to play a completely different way,” she said. “Before we used to kind of sink defensively, and this year we’re trying to get a little more ball pressure and guard the ball and be up the line, and we just feel like we have the athletes to do it.”
Centre forced 17 turnovers in the first half — including 15 during its 29-2 run — and 30 in all and held Defiance (0-2) to 34 percent shooting from the field.
“We are very happy with our defense this game,” Baechle said. “We tried to be in the lane and get up in them and jump on them early like we did.”
Meanwhile, the Colonels shot 67 percent from the field in the first half, making 16 of 24 shots overall and five of six 3-point attempts, and they finished at 56 percent.
They led 45-11 late in the first half before the Yellow Jackets closed with five straight points to trim the margin below 30 points, and they led by as many as 40 points in the second half.
Bridget Winstead went 3 for 4 from 3-point range and finished with 11 pints, and Hillary Moore went 6 for 6 at the free-throw line and had 11 points off the bench.
Baechle had six rebounds and three steals, Chelsea Benham had nine points, four assists and two steals, and both were named to the all-classic team. Ten different Colonels had assists.
That was the score for the Centre College women in the Country Hearth Inn/Lee’s Famous Recipe Classic this weekend at Alumni Gymnasium.
The reconfigured Colonels bounced back from a season-opening loss Friday to crush Defiance 78-42 on Saturday, doing to their opponent exactly what had been done to them some 20 hours earlier.
Centre fell behind 11-0 at the start of its game Friday against Maryville (Tenn.), but raced to a 19-5 lead in the first eight-plus minutes Saturday en route to a rout.
“We learned our lesson last night,” forward Paige Baechle said Saturday. “We did not like the feeling of being jumped on so early and getting down and getting ourselves in that hole that was really tough to get out of, so we came out and played hard today and jumped on them early.”
Baechle led Centre (1-1) in scoring in both games with 18 points against Maryville and 15 against Defiance, but in both cases there were three Colonels in double figures and a number of players with significant scoring contributions.
“We don’t want one person scoring all the points because it’s easy to guard and easy to shut down, but if we have it really spread out like it is now, that’s better for everybody, for our whole team,” Baechle said.
Only two Colonels averaged in double figures last year, when Centre went 26-4, and one of them was among eight seniors lost to graduation. Coach Wendie Austin-Robinson said her team is still a work in progress, but she liked much of what she saw in the first two games.
“We’re still figuring ourselves out and trying to play within a system. We’ve got a lot of different pieces we’re adding and doing a lot of different things,” Austin-Robinson said. “They’re showing they can score in some different ways than we thought they could.”
Most of the points during a 29-2 run in the first half Saturday came in one of two ways. There were five layups and four 3-point goals — along with seven free throws — and eight different players contributed to help Centre take a 34-7 lead with 6 minutes, 32 seconds remaining in the first half.
“I am just really proud of the girls because they expended a lot of energy last night, and they came back today from the beginning and they attacked instead of being attacked like they were last night,” Austin-Robinson said.
Austin-Robinson said the Colonels also defended well in a new system they’re still getting comfortable with.
“We’re much different defensively and still trying to figure that out and trust that system. Our seniors have played one way defensively for three years, and now we’re asking them to play a completely different way,” she said. “Before we used to kind of sink defensively, and this year we’re trying to get a little more ball pressure and guard the ball and be up the line, and we just feel like we have the athletes to do it.”
Centre forced 17 turnovers in the first half — including 15 during its 29-2 run — and 30 in all and held Defiance (0-2) to 34 percent shooting from the field.
“We are very happy with our defense this game,” Baechle said. “We tried to be in the lane and get up in them and jump on them early like we did.”
Meanwhile, the Colonels shot 67 percent from the field in the first half, making 16 of 24 shots overall and five of six 3-point attempts, and they finished at 56 percent.
They led 45-11 late in the first half before the Yellow Jackets closed with five straight points to trim the margin below 30 points, and they led by as many as 40 points in the second half.
Bridget Winstead went 3 for 4 from 3-point range and finished with 11 pints, and Hillary Moore went 6 for 6 at the free-throw line and had 11 points off the bench.
Baechle had six rebounds and three steals, Chelsea Benham had nine points, four assists and two steals, and both were named to the all-classic team. Ten different Colonels had assists.
