Century coach Joel Beard walked slowly off the court at North Carroll and into the hallway behind the gym. He stood next to the wall in front of the dressing room, put his hands on hips, exhaled slowly and shook his head. He looked worn out.

"That was the hardest thing I've ever done," Beard said quietly.

Beard wasn't talking about the game, where Century got its first varsity win with a 52-45 decision over North Carroll. He was talking about the unusual task of having to coach against his own daughter, Courtney, a point guard for the host Panthers.

Courtney Beard is a senior who's coming back after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee last year. Both father and daughter knew they'd be going against each other when Joel Beard took the job at Century, but they tried to keep things as low-key as possible.

That proved tough to do when the two teams took the floor. When the North Carroll starting lineup was introduced, Courtney Beard received a hug from the Century coach, who wished her luck and gave her his love.

Courtney Beard said it was unusual for her to not be able to look up into the stands and hear advice from her dad. That couldn't happen in this game. She scored three points and ran the Panthers offense well.

"The hardest thing is that my dad taught me all that I know about basketball, and I [look] up in the stands at him [sometimes]," Courtney Beard said. "But tonight I had to share him with the whole Century team."

Courtney's mother, Brenda, and Joel's parents all came to the game. Brenda Beard laughed when asked who she rooted for on this night.

"I was rooting for my daughter," Brenda said. "I can always go and root for him at other times."

But this proved to be the father's night as Century (1-0 overall, 1-0 Carroll County, 1-0 Central Maryland Conference) controlled play throughout. The Knights disrupted North Carroll (1-3, 1-1, 1-2) with full-court pressure, and the Panthers had problems moving the ball around.

Adreanna Esquivel led the Knights with 13 points while Mandy Psenicska had 12, and Kelly Kasper added 10. Esquivel's three-point play with 12 seconds left sealed the victory. Shanna Shirey sparked North Carroll's comeback from a double-digit deficit in the first half with a game-high 22 points.