CLARKSVILLE, MD — Hanging onto a tenous 14-13 lead at halftime, the Centennial girls basketball team looked like it was in for a battle at River Hill Wednesday night.
Anna Mitchell had something else in mind, though.
The senior captain scored 11 of her game-high 15 points in the final 16 minutes, leading her team (7-2) to a 41-25 victory over the Hawks (4-5).
"I was kind of shaky in the beginning and then I started getting loose in the second half when we started playing our game and flowing more," said Mitchell, who added 11 rebounds, nine steals and five assists in a near triple double effort. "Once we get going and my teammates are running with me, I think we're pretty unstoppable."
The Hawks, who were without center Sydney Poindexter due to a collision in practice on Tuesday, were led by junior guard Katie Caddigan with 13 points.
"We had focused a lot on doing our post defense, so without (Poindexter) in there ... I think it put a little more emphasis on defending the guards," Mitchell said. "We got a lot of good on-ball defense with our guards."
The Hawks tied the game at 14-14 early in the second half on a free throw by Chelsea Buchiane, but that was followed by a 12-0 Eagles run to close out the third quarter.
Freshman Kelly Simmons (8 points) and senior Kimmy Eads (6) combined for 14 more points for Centennial.
"We had to adjust a little bit at halftime and do some things against the zone and also just try to push the ball a little bit more," Centennial coach Bobby Macheel said. "Defensively in the second half we did a much better job of taking away what they do. Especially (guard) Jess Hopkins is extremely fast."
Hopkins was River Hill's second leading scorer, with seven points.
Centennial handed Mt. Hebron its first league defeat of the season last Wednesday, creating a trio of one-loss teams — along with Atholton and Howard — atop the Howard County standings.
"We've definitely been playing with more of a chip on our shoulder after beating Mt. Hebron, but it also helped us get a lot of confidence," Mitchell said. "We decided to get up for Mt. Hebron. We really believe that we can beat anyone in the county ... we don't come in knowing we're going to win any game, but we believe that we can beat anyone."
Mitchell scored eight points in the win over Mt. Hebron, and had 42 in a pair of holiday tournament games.
"Anna shared the ball really well and took her opportunities when she had them. She had a great game," Macheel said.
The last week of January into the first week of February should be a very exciting stretch for the county title race.
Mt. Hebron visits Howard on Jan. 28, and then Atholton visits the Vikings on Jan. 31 before heading to Howard on Feb. 3.
"There are no easy ones this year," Macheel said. "It's always good to beat River Hill. They're a good program so it always feels good to come in here, especially, and beat them."
C: Mitchell 15, Simmons 8, Eads 6, Driscoll 4, Gray 3, Burke 2, Eichorn 2, Conley 1.
RH: Caddigan 13, Hopkins 7, Buchiane 3, Seybold 2.
Half: C 14-13