No. 12 South Carroll wrapped up its run through Howard County last night with a 51-39 win at Centennial.
The Cavaliers have played six Howard teams and emerged with a 5-1 record, their only loss to No. 4 Hammond. However, the Eagles (3-3) made the get-away game tougher than the Cavaliers might have expected, taking an early 10-2 lead.
"I'm glad we left [Howard County] with a win," said point guard Amber Clutter, who led the Cavaliers with 15 points. "Our defense won the game for us, although a lot of times we would -- or at least I would -- make a good steal and miss a layup, so I guess we gave them as much as we took sometimes."
Early on, the Cavaliers had trouble matching up with Centennial's 5-foot-10 forward Kish Jordan in their man-to-man defense. Jordan, a transfer from Virginia who has signed with James Madison, finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
She scored eight of the Eagles' first 10 points.
"We had a hard time keeping the ball away from her especially since their offense was lobbing the ball over our heads and in to her," said Cavaliers forward Nicole Spencer, who guarded Jordan and also scored 14. "She knows how to use her body and to go up strong to the basket."
When the Cavaliers switched to a zone and started to press, they put on enough pressure to rattle the rest of the Eagles' cast, which included two freshmen and a sophomore. The Eagles turned the ball over on their next five possessions.
"It still takes us awhile to adjust," said Eagles coach Dave Greenberg. "We don't automatically react and we don't automatically do what we're supposed to yet. It shouldn't make a difference, because we know what we should be doing."
Helped by the turnovers, the Cavaliers took off on a 20-2 blitz that included 11 straight points to open the second quarter. Melissa Gettemy (11 points, nine rebounds) added a turnaround jumper and fed Spencer for a layup to run the Cavaliers' lead to 26-13 with 4:15 left in the first half.
But the Eagles came back, as Jordan scored six and had an assist in a 10-1 run that pulled Centennial within 27-23 at halftime.
The Eagles came within three when Meredith Price (10 points) hit two free throws with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. Although they managed to get within six as late as with 2:43 left in the game, the Eagles could get no closer.
Leading 45-39, the Cavaliers closed out the victory by scoring the game's last six points.
* Western 69, Lake Clifton 41: All-America forward Chanel Wright scored 19 points and All-Metro guard Kimberly Smith added 14, as No. 1 Western (5-0, 1-0) routed No. 2 Lake Clifton (4-1, 0-1) in a City-Wide 4A League game at Lake Clifton.
The Lakers, led by senior point guard Lashina Gross (15 points), recovered from an 8-2 deficit to pull within 10-9 after Janika Conley completed a three-point play. But Western then scored 13 consecutive points in a 17-2 run and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Western also received strong efforts from seniors Danielle Davis (10 points and Tesha Tinsley (10 points).