Warriors continue to make progress
Brylee Erickson drives to the basket in Central’s 48-39 loss to NFV on Dec. 22. (Photos by Bev Hamann)
Grace Kuehl searches for an open teammate in last week's game against NFV.
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
Last week was a busy and taxing one for the Central girls basketball team, which played three games before winter break.
That included back-to-back games on Dec. 18 and 19, starting with Edgewood-Colesburg.
The Warriors kept it close against the ranked Vikings, only down five points in the fourth quarter, but Ed-Co’s inside presence was too much for Central to overcome in a 58-48 loss.
Ashlyn Scherf scored a team-high 20 points, with 11 rebounds, five steals and two assists. Oakley Armstrong put up 13 points and two rebounds and Brylee Erickson finished with six points and two assists, while Katie Royer had four points and Makayla Erickson three.
The Warriors shot 34.7 percent from the field and 43.5 percent on three-pointers, while the defense came up with 11 steals and forced 20 turnovers.
On Dec. 19, Central went on the road to Turkey. Even coming out a bit “sluggish,” they “did a good job of setting the tone on defense and continued that trend into the second half,” coach Mark Wiley commented.
As a result, the Warriors jumped out to a lead in the first quarter and maintained it throughout the game, out-scoring the Trojans in every quarter in a 44-25 win.
Brylee Erickson scored a career-high 18 points and added seven steals, while Scherf finished with nine points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Grace Kuehl put up eight points and three steals, and Armstrong scored three points.
The Warrior defense finished with 20 steals and 20 rebounds, while the offense shot 27.9 percent from the field and 71.4 percent from the free throw line.
In the last game of the week, Dec. 22, Central welcomed North Fayette Valley. The Warriors took a 28-22 lead into halftime thanks to some impressive play off the bench, but the TigerHawk offense took control of the game in the third quarter, out-scoring the Warriors 19-9 to take the lead.
Central’s shooting, which was effective in the first half, failed to materialize in the fourth quarter, as the Warriors were held without a field goal and ended up losing 48-39.
Scherf led the team with 12 points, six rebounds and four steals, and Kuehl scored seven points along with seven rebounds, five steals and three assists. Brylee Erickson and Armstrong each scored five points, and Brooklyn Amsden and Makayla Erickson each totaled four.
The defense forced 18 turnovers, with 11 steals and four blocks.
“I felt we played our best basketball of the season thus far. It might not have shown up in the win column each night, but we did a much better job of ball movement on the offensive end. Our defense created turnovers and we were active on the defensive end. Our rebounding is something that has to continue to be a focus as we work over winter break,” Wiley said.
The Warriors sit at 5-5 overall and are in fourth in the Upper Iowa conference at 5-3. After break, they will head back out on the road to challenge the current conference leader, 8-3 MFL MarMac, on Friday, Jan. 5.
