Girls basketball: Slow start costs Burlington Central
At first, Burlington Central's young team didn't know what hit it. The Rockets weren't prepared for the kind of pressure defense Rockford Guilford threw at them.
The Rockets found themselves trailing 21-9 early in the second quarter. Once they settled down and got in the flow of the offense, they acquitted themselves nicely, but they just couldn't dig out of that early hole, finally falling, 42-37 on the first day of pool play in the Central Thanksgiving tournament.
Kathryn Schmidt, 1 of 4 freshmen on the roster, scored 15 points and grabbed 5 rebounds for the Rockets, but no one else reached double figures.
The Vikings rattled the Rockets early with relentless defensive pressure, forcing 15 first-half turnovers.
"You don't face that pressure in practice," said Central coach Mark Smith. "They did a nice job of pressuring us in the second quarter, but from then on we did a better job of handling the pressure."
"We were a little impatient at times. We've got some young kids out there. We've got to figure out when's the time to push it and when's the time to pull back. But overall, I think we're really pleased with the way it went."
Every time Central had a chance to tie or take the lead, the Vikings answered, usually in the person of Olivia Hagerty or Kaleia Montiero.
After falling behind by 12, the Rockets reeled off 8 straight points to make it 21-17, and they had the ball with a chance to make it a 1-possession game. But the Rockets were called for traveling and Hagerty nailed a 3-pointer to make it 24-17 at halftime.
Central finally pulled even at 33, with a free throw by Zoey Kollhoff capping a 9-1 run. Schmidt then blocked Montiero and corralled the rebound, but was called for traveling at the other end. Hagerty buried another 3-pointer, then came up with a steal and pullup jumper to make it 38-33.
The Rockets got back within 40-37, but could get no closer.
Mackenzie West had 8 points and 6 rebounds off the bench for the Rockets.
Hagerty finished with 15 points and Montiero added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Vikings.