By Bubba Harnist
Staff Writer
GREENWOOD – For the last three years of the Center Grove Holiday Tournament, the championship game has pitted the host Trojans against Columbus East. In 2004-05 and again last season, the Olympians knocked off Center Grove. Two years ago, it was Center Grove winning over Columbus East.
The good news for Center Grove fans Dec. 27 was that the Trojans continued the pattern of winning every other year as Class 4A No. 10 Center Grove defeated Columbus East, 56-49, to capture its seventh championship in the nine-year history of the event.
Despite having played a game earlier in the day – Center Grove got 17 points from Price en route to a 57-34 win over Madison, while Columbus East got 15 points from both McKayla Barber and Brianna Layton in a 56-45 upset of 4A No. 4 Mooresville – both teams came out firing.
As baskets were exchanged at a rapid pace, Center Grove couldn’t its lead past three points, while Columbus East was fighting to get the lead for more than one possession at a time.
The Trojans pushed the lead to four with a free throw from Jordan Price with 1:39 left in the first quarter, and at the end of the period Center Grove held a three-point lead at 17-14 as the Trojans scored at least one point on their final seven possessions.
The second quarter was remarkably different, especially for Columbus East. Try this one on for size: The Olympians – the defending 4A state runner-up – scored exactly zero points in the period.
“The key was our defense the whole ball game,” said Center Grove coach Joe Lentz. “I thought we needed to step up the level of intensity from this morning, and we did. We are getting better and better defensively.”
Center Grove, however, didn’t exactly light up the scoreboard during the Olympians’ drought.
The Trojans didn’t get their first bucket of the second quarter until a successful jump shot by Kristen Gliesmann with 4:38 left. Over the next two minutes, Center Grove got a jumper from Katy Watson and a 3-pointer from Price before a very tired Columbus East team called a timeout trailing 24-14.
Luckily for East, the Trojans didn’t score over the final 2:33, and the Olympians’ deficit remained 10 at the intermission.
Two minutes into the third quarter, Center Grove pushed its lead to 13 at 29-16 on a three from Brittney Shaner. But Columbus East then turned up the pressure and reeled off nine points, including a four-point play, in 46 seconds to cut the deficit to four.
“They did a nice job of attacking us,” Lentz said. “We sometimes pushed it too hard, and they got us into a much more quick pace. We took some rushed shots and made some poor decisions.”
Not to be outdone, the Trojans reeled off six straight points to push the lead back to 10 at 35-25. The two team exchanged hoops over the final two minutes, but Columbus East was able to trim the deficit to two at 40-32 heading into the fourth.
Columbus East narrowed the deficit to four points two minutes into the final stanza, and again three minutes in. But Center Grove quickly pushed the lead back to six or eight. When Price hit one of two free throws with 2:11 to play, Center Grove led 50-44.
But the Olympians responded with a 3-pointer from Jordan Ogle and a layup from Shannon Van Horn to make it 50-49 with only 1:34 remaining. East then had a golden opportunity on the next possession when the O’s forced a missed shot by Center Grove.
But CG senior Emily Fergason grabbed the offensive rebound and scored to put the Trojans ahead by three and, after a Columbus East miss, Price hit two more free throws to extend the Trojans’ lead to 54-49. A turnover by Columbus East on its next possession sealed the Center Grove win.
With two wins on the day (the Trojans had defeated Madison in an opening-round game of the four-team tourney), Center Grove improves to 8-2 on the season. Gliesmann’s 18 points led the way while Priced added another 14 for the Trojans, whose next contest will be a huge Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference Dec. 29 home game against 4A No. 14 Terre Haute South.
“Mentally, it’s difficult (playing two games in one day), but we were up to the task today,” Lentz said. “This is still a young team – I like where we are going.
“We have some things to work on, but we have a really great opportunity to be great at the end.”
Leading the way for the Olympians (8-4) was Ogle with 19 points, while Stephanie Santos chipped in nine and Brianna Layton had eight. Next up for East is a Jan. 3 trip to Seymour for a Hoosier Hills Conference clash.
In the consolation game, Mooresville got three straight 3-pointers in the final 1:07 of the first half to blow open what had been a close game. That allowed Mooresville to build a 10-point lead over Madison, and the Pioneers went on to a 60-38 victory.
Madison used an 8-0 run early in the third quarter to get the deficit to nine, but Mooresville (10-2) quickly pushed the lead back to double digits and led 48-33 after three quarters. Leading the way for the Pioneers was freshman Jama Sharp with 24 points, while Meagan Callaway added 10.
Madison (3-9) was led by Sadie Bowling’s 15 points, while Nicole Goble chipped in 10.
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