Burlington Central wins tournament title

Offense is so overrated.

Harlem held Burlington Central scoreless for 10 minutes spanning the third and fourth quarters, but the Rockets played pretty good defense themselves. They allowed just 2 points in the third quarter and came up with just enough scoring for a 32-26 decision to win their own girls basketball Thanksgiving tournament Tuesday night.

Most of the Rockets' offense came from freshman forward Kathryn Schmidt, who nailed four 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 21 points. Madelynne Drescher had 6 rebounds to go with 3 points, and Mackenzie West grabbed 8 boards while blanketing Harlem sharpshooter Kahley Logan.

The young Rockets are starting to find their rhythm.

"It's way better than it was the first game, and it's just awesome," said Schmidt, who scored 14 of the Rockets' 21 first-half points. "We're all coming together, playing as a team more. We're slowing down and it's just really working out."

Central (3-1) took control with a 10-0 run late in the first quarter to go up 13-5. Harlem never got closer than 5 points the rest of the way.

Although the Rockets didn't score from the halfway mark of the third quarter until there were less than 2 minutes left in the game, the Huskies scored just 4 points in that span. In fact, they scored just 2 points in the third quarter on 1-for-8 shooting.

"It was a great defensive effort," said Central coach Mark Smith. "I thought the key was we knew 33 (Logan) was going to go inside, and I thought Mackenzie West did a good job on her. She got a lot of help but she did a good job."

Logan still led the Huskies with 13 points, but by the second half she was reduced to a jump-shooter. Logan also grabbed 7 rebounds, while Catie Daily added 5 points for Harlem.

The Huskies made things interesting with a late run. They outscored the Rockets 7-1 to make it 31-26 but by then just 19 seconds remained. The Huskies were forced to foul Drescher and she made 1 of 2 free throws for the final margin.