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Lady Wolves suffocate Titans, 53-17
BY Kevin Hageland Staff Writer
ALLEN -- It wasn’t hard to track the first quarter field goals in Thursday’s game between Plano West and Frisco Centennial as there were none.
By either team.
“I’ve coached teams that had two or three points in a quarter,” said Don Patterson, West head coach. “But usually we got at least one field goal in there.”
“We are a real young group and we were going up against a veteran squad,” said Wesley Charles, Centennial head coach. “So we knew it was going to be a tough game.”
That was evident from the jump as West’s press defense continually forced Centennial turnovers.
The Lady Wolves couldn’t break the game open though as they were unable to convert quality looks at the basket. West went 7-of-13 from the free throw line in the opening quarter while Centennial was 1-of-2 to reach the 7-1 score at the end of the first.
“It’s not like we were taking bad shots, they just didn’t go in,” Patterson said. “But we kept playing hard on defense and good things started to happen.”
That was evident in the second quarter as West doubled its point output.
As was the case in the first quarter, defense was the catalyst for the Lady Wolves surge in the second.
West senior Alexann Yancey stole the inbound pass but it was Centennial that got the first field goal of the afternoon, with Vy Nguyen hitting a mid-range jumper 30 seconds in. The Lady Wolves wouldn’t match that feat until 5:58 remained in the half as senior Jacqueline Jeffcoat dropped in two of her 11 points. Jeffcoat was also the game’s leading rebounder with nine boards. West, which outrebounded Centennial at a 38-26 clip, got an additional seven boards from junior Rachel Wilson while Wren Conn paced the Lady Titans with five rebounds.
West opened up its lead from there. The final points of the half came off a steal by Wilson. She passed the ball to junior Stacy Lee, who then dished it back to Wilson for the lay-in. That gave the Lady Wolves a 21-8 cushion at the break.
Lee got in on the action again in the third quarter as back-to-back steals by the guard led to four straight West points as part of a 10-0 run. That spurt closed the quarter out and made it 37-13 heading into the final frame.
But despite the ever-deepening hole, Centennial’s coach stayed upbeat with his players.
“We lost nine seniors from last year’s team, so we are in rebuilding mode,” Charles said. “We want to build things up and you have to stay positive when that’s what you are trying to accomplish.”
Iemah Perry, who had Centennial’s lone first quarter point, broke West’s run early in the fourth quarter with a field goal. Perry was the Lady Titans leading scorer with eight points.
Centennial would score only once more in the fourth quarter as West continued to push the defensive pace. The Lady Wolves capped the game with a steal and coast-to-coast lay-in by senior Sydney Singleterry, who scored eight points. West senior Nia Stewart chipped in seven points in the 53-17 victory.
“These tournaments are helpful because we can work on the things we’ve worked on in practice,” Patterson said. “Now we have game film, so we can go back and talk through the game and show the girls what we need to improve on.
“Plus you usually play a lot of games in a row in these tournaments, so that will help with our conditioning.”
Regardless of what happens in West and Centennial’s nightcaps (games were completed after press time), both will be back on the court today.
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