Notre Dame girls basketball team defeats Central, 54-33

The Notre Dame girls basketball team got a taste of something it hadn't in a while Monday night at home -- consistent scoring from the post.

The Bulldogs were dominant down low, with a rotation of three players, who accounted for 29 of Notre Dame's points, in a 54-33 victory over the Tigers at Notre Dame High School.

"I think what I liked the most is that we had balanced scoring for maybe the first time all year," Notre Dame coach Renee Peters said. "We were looking for each other, playing a little better together and we had an inside-outside game. Finally, we were able to get the ball in the post. We were able to take some pressure off the guards. We had three or four guards that were hitting shots when we'd dish it back out to them.

"Overall, it's a nice improvement. Like I've said before, we're young and we're climbing a little bit every game. But to reduce the turnovers, hit the shots down low and to play together is a huge step. On top of that, we won every quarter, too. We're breaking it down to eight minute segments and that's very positive. That's the first time we've done that all year."

Freshman Lexi Welter, sophomore Allie Ziegler and junior Cheyenne Sander combined for 29 points in the post for the Bulldogs, who improved to 5-14. Sander and Welter each finished with 10 points.

Notre Dame trailed by as many as three points in the first four minutes of the game, but quickly erased the deficit with an 11-2 run, which put them ahead 15-9 at the end of the first quarter.

The Bulldogs did not trail for the remainder of the game, but Peters admitted she was a little nervous when her team fell behind 7-4 with 3 minutes, 57 seconds to go in the first.

Central junior Kassidy Pannier scored on the Tigers' first possession of the game after grabbing the opening tip from senior Tramonee Stewart. Pannier eventually drained a 3 -pointer with 7:34 remaining in the first.

"We've been playing from behind so many times this year, and I said, 'Let's jump out early," Peters said. "The first thing I said to them was, 'Watch Pannier with the 3.' And she comes out with the first shot of the game with a 3. I was kind of like, 'Here we go, this again.' But they maintained. I thought we did a good job on the boards tonight. We had a few miscues, but once they got the lead they maintained it. For us again, that was a positive step forward. That was kind of one of our building points, is that we've got to maintain and win every quarter. They're tired of trailing. I think they get to a point where it's like, 'You know what, let's get a head for once,' So that was all them, and they should be very proud of themselves after tonight's win."

Stewart scored from the paint two minutes later to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead and extended it to 7-4 with a drive to the basket and a layup midway through the first. But Central went on a scoring drought for the next two minutes before junior Bailey Manley scored to tie the game at 9-9.

Central (6-12) did not score for the remainder of the opening period. Notre Dame close out the first with six straight points, including a 3-pointer from freshman Brooke Blankenship.

Central tied the score at 15-15 before Notre Dame outscored the Tigers 16-3 over the remainder of the quarter for a 31-18 lead at halftime.

Welter and Ziegler accounted for 10 of Notre Dame's points in the second quarter.

Welter caught a pass down low from sophomore Sam Brennan, pivoted towards the basket and scored after a shot fake to give the Bulldogs a 19-17 lead with 4:40 left in the first half.

Central added a free throw on its next possession, but Ziegler answered with back-to-back baskets to extend the lead to 25-18.

Blankenship and sophomore Morgan Duschell each added 3s to give the Bulldogs a 13-point lead at the break.

"It feels good just to be an underclassmen and help the upperclassmen throughout the game," Welter said. "It helps me personally to play harder because I know that whenever they see me play hard, they're going to go out and do the same thing."

The Tigers did not score in the final 3:17 of the second and turned the ball over 17 times in the first half.

After defeating a solid Chaffee team by a score of 67-44 and hanging with undefeated Saxony Lutheran for a majority of the game in a 59-52 loss two weeks ago, the Tigers seemed to be headed in the right direction. Central coach Sherry Shirrell had one word to describe her team's poor performance against the Bulldogs.

"Inconsistency," Shirrell said. "I mean we have days when we come out and just look great, and then days like today where we're just not there and ready to play. [I'm] trying to figure out where that inconsistency is coming from, and finding someone who can be a vocal leader for us. That's what it's going to take."

Inconsistencies continued for Central in the second half, when it turned the ball over five straight times to start the third. Notre Dame scored six consecutive points off of the Tigers' miscues and extended its lead to 37-18 with 6:30 left in the third. The Tigers finished with 31 turnovers and shot 13 percent from the field (13 of 16).

"That comes with our consistency and staying within our offense and running what we ask then to run," Shirrell said about Central's poor shooting performance throughout the game. "A couple of them do have that inexperience, but that shouldn't be an excuse anymore. We had way too many turnovers as well. We talked about that at halftime because we turned the ball over four or five times right before halftime. We're a varsity basketball team and we're better than that. Those are all things we'll be working on tomorrow."

Stewart paced the Tigers with 12 points.

Notre Dame is riding a two-game winning streak after defeating Rosati-Kain 44-31 over the weekend. Peters said the Bulldogs' post play was also good in that game, but told her players it will need to continue if they hope to experience more success for the remainder of the season.

"They all three carried us. That's 29 points from them right there, which we haven't had all year," Peters said about her post players. "We've got a nice rotation with them. They rotate in well. They're unselfish. They know when they're in, they're going to go hard. We've missed a lot of shots early in the season and we still missed some tonight, but at least we made a few more down low than other nights. I was very proud of the post players and the outside shooting as well, but it's got to have to continue for us. I know it and they know it."

Cape Central 9 9 8 7 -- 33

Notre Dame 15 16 12 11 -- 54

CENTRAL (33) -- Tramonee Stewart 12, Madison Daum 8, Bailey Manley 4, Kassidy Pannier 3, Sydney Tollison 2, Abby Reece 2, Quetaja Martin 2. FG 15, FT 1-9, F 12 (3-pointers: Pannier 1, Daum 1. Fouled out: none)

NOTRE DAME (54) -- Cheyenne Sander 10, Lexi Welter 10, Allie Ziegler 9, Brooke Blankenship 8, Hayli Chapman 7, Morgan Duschell 5, Briley Bieser 3, Sam Brennan 2. FG 23, FT 3-8, F 11 (3-pointers: Blankenship 2, Chapman 1, Bieser 1, Duschell 1. Fouled out: none)