It took all of about two minutes for the Westminster Owls to retake control of a game visiting Centennial worked hard and long to get back into last night.
The Eagles got a three-pointer from Michelle Brown in their opening possession of the second half to get within one point after trailing by nine on a number of occasions in the first half against No. 14 Westminster.
Then came the defense. The Owls scored the next 11 points -- with the help of a full-court press and a three-pointer from Cassandra Conklin -- to give them their biggest lead at 12 as they went on to a 62-51 win.
It looked so simple when Price was all alone in front of the Centennial basket as the Eagles finally solved the Westminster press after five tries. The basket ended the Owls' 11-0 run, but the damage was already done.
Beth Lister (16 points and nine rebounds) got things started for the Owls with two baskets; Lauren Kadlubowski (12 points) hit a baseline jumper and Conklin (20 points) had a steal and layup before her big three.
"Without question, that's what we'll be looking at first on Monday," said Centennial coach Dave Greenberg, referring to the opening minutes of the third quarter.
The Eagles (3-1) would never fully recover from the Owls' third-quarter splurge, despite a 27-point effort from Kish Jordan.
Despite having forwards Lister and Jill Ibex in foul trouble going into the fourth, the Owls (3-0) managed to uphold their lead with some solid bench help from Lauren Henry and Courtney Wunderlich, and some more clutch shooting from Conklin.
After Jordan followed her miss to cut the Owls lead to 57-51 with 1:45 left, Conklin hit a baseline jumper 30 seconds later to give the Owls an eight-point lead.
"All the kids did a nice job tonight," said Westminster coach Bernie Koontz.
"We were looking to force some things and pick up the tempo and did a good job of getting some turnovers and quick points. Centennial came out ready to play in the third quarter and our girls really responded."
The Owls took a 16-7 lead after one quarter with some solid man-to-man defense and balanced scoring as all five of their starters scored.
In the second quarter, the Eagles solved the Owls' stingy defense somewhat by getting the ball inside to Jordan, who scored 10 in the quarter to get Centennial within four at 27-23 at the half.
She scored on back-to-back possessions midway through the quarter and added a long jumper at the buzzer to keep the Eagles close.
"She's as good as they get," said Greenberg of Jordan.
"Westminster has a good team and I think we showed we're capable of playing with them. We made some mental mistakes and aren't quite where we need to be yet. We just have to play some better team defense and take care of the ball a little better."