Central's rally runs out of time vs. Eureka girls

It was an abysmal first half of basketball for Central on Saturday.

The Tigers couldn't do anything right as Eureka scored the first 14 points of the game and led by as many as 18 points during the opening game of the Notre Dame Shootout.

"I wasn't real happy at halftime and they didn't like a lot of what I had to say," Central coach Sherri Shirrell said. "But I have to say I'm really proud of my players because they did listen to us at halftime. I told them to chip away, get a stop, chip away, get a stop. We weren't putting the ball in the hole early and I think that was a lot of our problem."

The Tigers responded to their coach's challenge in the second half. They kept whittling away at the Wildcats' lead, getting it down to one point, but couldn't overcome the slow start. Eureka, ranked No. 10 in the state in Class 5, held on for the 53-49 victory.

"Maybe at the get-go they were a little bit intimidated," Shirrell said of her team. "Once we got past that and realized we could play, then that's when we started playing."

Central's Chelsea Pannier shoots in front of Eureka's Alex Hillyer during the first half of their game Saturday at the Notre Dame Shootout. (LAURA SIMON)

The Tigers trailed 31-15 at halftime but started the third quarter on a 14-2 run to cut their deficit to four points.

"Our offense in the first half was nonexistent," Shirrell said. "In the second half, we came out and we actually started running our offense the way we're supposed to run the offense. Defensively, our press was working well tonight."

Chelsea Pannier sparked the run with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.

"One person jumps out and gets a couple points and everybody else follows them," Pannier said of the run. "You build on everyone else's ability."

One of the Tigers' problems in the first half was that Pannier, one of their top scorers, picked up two fouls in the opening minute and spent most of the first half on the bench.

"You have to be more careful and play as hard as you can," she said about playing in foul trouble. "But you can't be as aggressive as you want to be when you have two fouls already. You try to keep your feet on the ground. The more you jump, the more fouls you're going to get."

The Tigers cut their deficit to four points late in the third quarter, but the Wildcats (16-1) responded with a 7-0 run for another double-digit lead.

Central (10-5) refused to go away. The Tigers answered with a run of their own, this time a 9-1 spurt to close within three.

"Earlier, we were all trying to get in there and get it done," Central senior Sadie Pittman said. "But the second half, we got there as a team and made it happen ... everybody getting good shots, everybody getting good looks at the basket."

The Tigers closed the gap to one point on a bucket by Machaela Durham with 40 seconds left in the game, but Allie Hill hit two free throws with 34.7 seconds left to give her team a four-point lead. Central missed a pair of shots and the Wildcats ran out the clock.

"It's sad just to know we could have beat the ranked team in the state and could of got recognition because we are a good team this year," Pittman said of her team's slow start.

The Tigers missed their first eight shots of the game and went 6 of 28 (21 percent) from the field over the first 16 minutes. They turned over the ball 15 times before halftime. Pittman, Central's point guard who serves as the offensive sparkplug, missed her first nine shots from the field.

"I really don't know what was going on," Pittman said. "I think I was mentally prepared, but my shots weren't falling at all.

"I keep my confidence because I know I drive my team. I know I have to keep up my spirits for my team. I know my shots will fall if I keep trying."

Pittman found her shot in the second half, going 3 of 6 from the field and hitting 4 of her 5 free throws. She finished with a game-high 17 points.

"A lot of it's mental," Shirrell said. "That gets in their head and they think they can't score. But it's going to come and she knows it's going to come. We want her to be aggressive and we want her to take the ball to the hole."

Despite the loss, Pittman said the game served as good motivation for her team.

"The way we build off this is if we can come this close to beating this team, we can take anybody," she said. "It motivates us a lot to work harder in practice and come out and know we can go all the way."

Eureka 22 9 7 15 -- 53

Central 7 8 16 18 -- 49

EUREKA (53) -- Allie Hill 11, Amy Haller 3, Haley Albert 7, Alex Hillyer 8, Brianna Neumann 11, Kourtney Price 2, Dede Duke 9, Melissa Menchella 2. FG 16, FT 20-33, F 19. (3-pointers: Hill 1. Fouled out: Price)

CENTRAL (49) -- Sadie Pittman 17, Machaela Durham 8, Chelsea Vinson 9, Chelsea Pannier 14, Farrah Malik 1. FG 17, FT 13-21, F 22. (3-pointers: Pannier 2. Fouled out: none)