MAGNET COVE -- Centerpoint wasted little time in taking control of Wednesday's first-round game in the Battle at the Cove as the Lady Knights cruised to a 47-36 win over Cutter Morning Star.
Centerpoint's Marlee Bright had a putback 26 seconds into the game as the Lady Knights never relinquished the lead or saw a tie in the remainder of the game. Grace Slick hit one of two from the free throw line to cut the Centerpoint lead in half with 6:39 left in the first period, but the Lady Knights went on a 9-0 run to push out to an 11-1 lead with 2:02 left in the period.
"This is our third game," said Centerpoint head coach John Bright. "We played a game before break, and now we've come back and played last night and now played tonight, and we're kind of dead. They're hustling, but we're not there yet. It's early in the season, but we got a win. That's what we needed to advance."
With a 13-5 spread after eight minutes, the two teams were neck-and-neck throughout the second period with the spread never exceeding 11 points with Centerpoint holding a 24-17 lead at the break.
"I thought we did a lot of good things," said head coach Matt Carter, who is in his first year at the helm of the girls program. "We struggled with pressure at times and ball handling; we've got to get our heads up, and be a little bit stronger with our passes. We put in a new defense today, a 1-3-1, and I felt like we did a really good job of that.
"We just had some mistakes then, too, because we just put it in, but I think it's something that we can use going forward. I thought our man defense in the fourth quarter was good. I thought we made some good plays. We just didn't make enough, but that's a pretty good team we played, so I felt good about our effort. We've just gotta keep improving."
After matching each other shot-for-shot early in the second half, the Lady Knights held the Lady Eagles scoreless over 5:15 of the third quarter before C.J. Burks had a putback to cut the deficit back down to 15 points with 17 seconds left in the period.
"I played a lot of different ones today because the last two games I haven't really been able to do that because I think some of these kids are going to help down the road," Bright said after 11 players got time on the court. "So I'm trying to get them in. ... We're not quite jelling, so they've got to get a feel for the game, and we're going to be fine. It's just going to take some time."
Monika Flores led the Lady Knights with 12 points and 6 steals, and Jasmine Keener and Bright added 10 each. Bright led the team with 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Kara Kinkaid led the Lady Eagles with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals, Burks added 12 with 7 boards, and Slick led the team with 3 assists.
"Kara and C.J. have had a good year," Carter said. "The last couple games they struggled a little bit. We worked hard at practice on them two finishing around the rim. I thought they finished the ball better tonight, and that's key. For those two, it's a confidence thing. If they get it going then they're going to play well throughout, so it was nice to see them get it back tonight."
Cutter Morning Star will face off against Bismarck at noon Saturday in the tournament, and Centerpoint will play Magnet Cove or Ouachita at 6 p.m.
Lady Eagles-Lady Knights, Box
CUTTER MORNING STAR (36)
McKenna Knott-Debord 1-4 1-2 3, Madison Bellomy 2-5 0-0 4, Kara Kinkaid 5-11 3-7 13, Grace Slick 0-2 1-2 1, CJ Burks 5-8 2-2 12, Haley Scott 1-3 1-2 3, Selena Gaska 0-2 0-0 0, Sierra Wilmath 0-3 0-0 0.
CENTERPOINT (47)
Kaydra Fox 0-4 0-0 0, Jasmine Keener 4-11 2-4 10, Monika Flores 4-8 2-2 12, Marlee Bright 4-12 2-2 10, Kason Wolf 0-1 0-0 0, Emily Balliette 3-5 0-0 6, Kamryn Reid 2-4 0-0 4, Jorden Edwards 1-4 1-1 3, Sade Killip 1-5 0-0 2, Cheyenne Lambert 0-3 0-0 0, Aidin Lopez 0-1 0-0 0.
CMS 5 12 8 11 36
CPT 13 11 16 7 47
3-Point Goals-CMS 0-4 (Bellomy 0-2, M. Knott-Debord 0-1, Wilmath 0-1), MP 2-20 (Flores 2-4, Fox 0-4, Killip 0-3, Bright 0-3, Reid 0-2, Keener 0-2, Lopez 0-1, Lambert 0-1). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-CMS 30 (Kinkaid 7, Burks 7), MP 17 (Bright 5). Assists-CMS 7 (Slick 3), MP 9 (Bright 2, Keener 2). Total Fouls-CMS 8, MP 10.
Sports on 12/06/2019