ND girls surface at .500 with 67-28 rout

~ The Bulldogs evened their record at 10-10 with a win over Central.

Notre Dame's girls basketball team has had to fight to get back to the .500 mark for much of the past month, but with a win over rival Central on Tuesday at the Show Me Center the Bulldogs finally made the mark.

The Bulldogs defeated Central 67-28 to improve to 10-10.

"We've struggled to get back here," Notre Dame coach Jerry Grim said. "In the meantime we've played some pretty good teams, and we've played some pretty good basketball. The main thing is to get better, and hopefully that's what we're doing."

The game was never in question, as Notre Dame jumped ahead 19-6 after one quarter. Notre Dame was up 21 points at halftime and nearly pushed the margin to 30 points by the time the fourth quarter started.

Despite the lopsided score, the Bulldogs remained consistent throughout the game. The Bulldogs scored no less than 13 points in a quarter, and on defense Notre Dame was able to hold Central to only four fourth-quarter points -- even after turning to the bench.

"In a game like this you have a tendency to let up," Grim said. "It's to the girls' credit they stayed focused. Playing Central didn't hurt."

Kristain Burger led the Bulldogs with 15 points. Reserve guard Emily Blattel finished with 14 points, and Meridith Medlin had 12 points on four 3-pointers.

"I think the main thing we're doing now that we weren't in the beginning is taking care of the ball," Grim said. "We struggled in the beginning taking care of the ball, and without the ball it's hard to win."

With the game out of reach, the Bulldogs were able to give some of their junior varsity players some playing time against the Tigers. Notre Dame recently used every player on its bench in a win over Eureka.

"Some of the girls coming up from the junior varsity will be able to contribute for us," Grim said. "That's a good thing for this year, as well as next year."

Notre Dame has four games remaining on its schedule, including a home game against district rival Dexter on Monday.

Central fell to 7-11 with the loss. Freshman center Wendi Zickfield led the Tigers with nine points.

Notre Dame 67, Central 28

Central 6 8 10 4 -- 28

Notre Dame 19 16 13 19 -- 67

NOTRE DAME (67) -- Kristain Burger 15, Emily Blattel 14, Meridith Medlin 12, Amanda Toole 9, Brooke Beussink 4, Paige Schumer 3, Allison Toole 2, Claudia Brauss 4, Miranda Schlosser 4. FG 27, FT 5-9, F 13 (3-pointers: Medlin 4, Blattel 2, Am. Toole 1. Fouled out: none)

CENTRAL (28) -- Wendi Zickfield 9, Courtney Schuessler 6, Dani Gross 6, Paige Rothenberger 3, Christina Sexton 2, Kristin Shirrell 2. FG 11, FT 4-8, F 9 (3-pointers: Gross 2. Fouled out: none)