Central girls overpower newcomer Saxony Lutheran for second time

At this point in high school basketball history, the pairing of the Central girls basketball team against Saxony Lutheran still is an odd coupling.

While the Tigers entered the game with a .333 winning percentage, the Class 5 school still had far too much talent for the the first-year girls varsity program at Saxony Lutheran, a Class 2 school.

Central posted a 63-21 victory in the second meeting between the two schools.

The Tigers had won 63-24 in the Saint Francis Medical Center Holiday Classic.

"They're going to be a good program in the future," Central coach Sherri Shirrell said.

But they were no match Thursday night. The Tigers (5-8) outscored Saxony 43-8 in the middle two quarters after taking a 10-3 lead in the first quarter.

"It's just going to take them a little while to build a program." Shirrell said. "They're going to get there."

She is hopeful of the same fate for her program. Shirrell led Central to a 9-16 record last year in her first season at the helm.

"We've been playing pretty well lately," Shirrell said. "We played well against Poplar Bluff and against Cor Jesu -- just that last quarter got us."

The Tigers beat Poplar Bluff 46-41 back on Jan. 4 and lost 51-38 to Cor Jesu on Saturday after trailing by just one through three periods.

"I'm expecting us to win a few more ballgames," Shirrell said.

The Tigers had a balanced attack Thursday, and 6-foot-2 sophomore Wendi Zickfield had just three points after scoring a combined 25 points in the Tigers' first two games of 2007. Pernille Hoj scored 12 points, with eight in the third quarter. Christina Sexton also had 12, Courtney Schuessler added 11, and Tierra Walker had 10.

"It was an opportunity to get everybody in the game, and we had some things we needed to work on," Shirrell said. "I was really impressed with Pernille Hoj, with the way she carried herself and played tonight. She always plays hard."

The Crusaders were led by Tori Ourth, who scored seven points.

With Saxony carrying just 10 players who take part in both the varsity and junior varsity teams, the varsity game was played first. Saxony used all of its players for a portion of the varsity game, and the JV contest lasted just one half. Central won 20-16.

CENTRAL 63, SAXONY LUTHERAN 21

Central 10 20 23 10 -- 63

Saxony Luth. 3 5 3 10 -- 21

CENTRAL (63) -- Christina Sexton 12, Kristin Shirrell 4, Tierra Walker 10, Courtney Schuessler 11, Jenna Matthews 2, Lauren Kinsey 2, Pernille Hoh 12, Breia Twiggs 1, Mary Pearson 1, Wendi Zickfield 3. FG 27, FT 9-15, F 15 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none).

SAXONY LUTHERAN (21) -- Nicole McLard 2, Cassie Simpher 2, Tori Ourth 7, Deanna Dippold 3, Lauryn Hunt 1, Kara Versemann 4. FG 7, FT 7-16, F 12 (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none).