Notre Dame girls pull away from Central

A couple of important things went right for the Notre Dame girls basketball team in the first minute of the third quarter Monday night.

Central star Chelsea Pannier was called for her fourth foul, which forced her to miss the remainder of the period, and by the time Central called a timeout a few seconds later, Notre Dame senior Allyson Bradshaw could see her team's half-court press was going to work on defense.

"We knew whenever we started it, whenever we got up, I think, six points and they called a timeout," Bradshaw said. "We knew right then. We were like, 'OK, now we're on a roll. We can do it.'"

Notre Dame eventually turned that six-point lead into a 72-57 victory over the Tigers at the Show Me Center.

"Pannier got in foul trouble," Notre Dame coach Renee Peters said. "She handles the ball quite a bit, so we knew we were going to just really put it on them as much as we can."

The Bulldogs went on an 18-6 run, sparked by forcing five turnovers, after Pannier exited in the third quarter.

"Our defense is how we're going to win games because we're so small," Bradshaw said. "We're not going to be able to just play over everybody because they're so much bigger than us. We have to play our good defense especially on the perimeter players because if we stop their perimeter game, then our inside girls have an easier job inside."

Central also played the second quarter without its senior leader Pannier, who picked up three fouls in the first quarter.

"That hurt us," Central coach Sherri Shirrell said. "But I'm so proud of our kids because Chelsea's our leader on and off the floor, and we came out and we figured out that we can play without her -- not that we want to, but the rest of the kids stepped up and did an excellent job."

Sophomore Chelsea Vinson, who finished with six rebounds, scored 12 or her 19 points in the first half.

"Our defense was not at its full potential," Bradshaw said about the first half. "Chelsea Vinson took control the first half. We would give her room and she'd shoot. We'd give her a step and she'd drive. We let them drive and dish and they kept getting open looks."

Junior Brooke Bohnert led Notre Dame with 23 points.

"I think the first half we kind of came out a little bit flat," Bohnert said. "We were ready to play, but I think that they wanted it more at first. Whenever we came back out, the second half the key points that coach pointed out to us really stuck in our heads."

Those points, according to Bohnert, were fouling less and rebounding better after Central sophomore Alayah Cooper-Johnson closed the first-half scoring with an offensive rebound and conventional three-point play.

Cooper-Johnson finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds, 11 of which were on the offensive end of the court.

"We weren't cutting off the passing lanes then we kept fouling and we got in foul trouble early, so that definitely hurt us," Bradshaw said. "We put them on the free-throw line early in the first half again like we have been known to do."

Bradshaw, who has committed to play at Southeast Missouri State next season, scored 19 points on her future home floor as Redhawks coach John Ishee watched from the front row.

"I look forward to it a ton," Bradshaw said of getting to play on the Show Me Center court. "I'm so excited."

The college-sized court also helps her current team.

"I love this court because it's bigger and so we can run the floor more," Bradshaw said. "That's how we play well."

Central 19 9 14 15 -- 57

Notre Dame 16 15 23 18 -- 72

CENTRAL (57) -- Allie Hardesty 11, Alayah Cooper-Johnson 16, Bailey Kratochvil 3, Chelsea Pannier 4, Megan Daly 4, Chelsea Vinson 19. FG 19, F 14, FT 14-23. (3-pointers: Hardesty 3, Kratochvil 1, Vinson 1. Fouled out: Pannier)

NOTRE DAME (72) -- Allyson Bradshaw 18, Summer Burger 10, Brooke Bohnert 23, Miranda Fowler 11, Nicole Blattel 2, Madison Huckstep 6, Savanna Ayers 2. FG 25, F 17, FT 15-21. (3-pointers: Bradshaw 2, Burger 1, Bohnert 1, Fowler 1, Huckstep 2. Fouled out: Blattel)