By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Friday’s basketball games against Solomon at Centre were a reversal of the teams’ fortunes last week. The girls lost and the boys won against Rural Vista.

This time, the girls won handily over Solomon, 56-23, after losing to Rural Vista, 52-30, and the boys won, 47-32.

Good shooting and ball handling throughout the first quarter by Centre gave the girls a 22-8 lead. Alyssa Espinoza was unstoppable, scoring 11 points.

The Cougars continued to dominate throughout the next three quarters and won by 33 points.

A. Espinoza had a career-high 28 points.

“Alyssa dominated the game on the inside,” coach Alan Stahlecker said, “even though she was nowhere near the tallest player in the post area.”

Her sister, Samantha, also scored in double figures, with 10 points. She had several mid-range shots spread throughout the game.

“Solomon focused so hard on trying to shut down Kelsey Hett’s scoring that she was content to find the open player with good passes, as she had a number of nice assists,” Stahlecker said.

Hett scored 8 points, Alex Remmers scored 6, and Lili Espinoza, 2.

The girls were 6-8 overall and 2-4 in the league after Friday’s game.

Boys lose a close one

Although the Cougars lost by five points, they were within one to three points throughout most of the game.

After Solomon made two consecutive 3-pointers in the second quarter, Centre trailed by eight points. But two baskets by Jensen Riffel and a 3-pointer by Jacob Hird closed the gap to five at halftime.

The Cougars couldn’t get any closer in the third quarter but stepped up their play in the final quarter to go ahead briefly with five minutes remaining. Hird made two consecutive baskets plus a free throw to give Centre a 53-52 lead. This was despite one player quitting at halftime and one fouling out early in the quarter.

Solomon and Centre’s Lane Methvin traded 3-point shots to give Centre another one-point lead. Solomon went ahead by four points with one minute remaining, but Hird stole the ball and made a basket to close the gap to 2 points.

In an attempt to catch up by fouling, the Cougars allowed Solomon to make free throws and win a five-point victory.

Four players scored in double digits: Methvin, 15; Riffel, 13; and Hird and Braxton Smith, 12 each. Aidan Svoboda made 4 points and Dalton Stika, 2.

The Cougars have an overall record of 7-7 following Friday’s game and are 3-3 in league play.

Centre teams have a busy week ahead. After playing Goessel yesterday at home, they will play four more games in the next week: at Little River in a makeup game Thursday, at home against Elyria Christian for Friday’s homecoming, at home Monday for a makeup game against Wichita Classic, and at Canton-Galva on Tuesday.