Center Grove girls win 17th straight

Center Grove’s 17th straight girls basketball victory might have been its most difficult. But Friday’s home win might also have been the most rewarding for the Trojans, given how tough it was to earn.

The Class 4A No. 7 Trojans had to survive a missed Giants shot in the closing seconds, a Cherrelle Newsom runner in the lane with about 3 seconds left. Ashley Eck grabbed the rebound, her game-high 12th, and held the ball for the remaining seconds to preserve a 52-51 Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference victory.

“We definitely could have played better,” said Eck, who also scored a game-high 15 points for Center Grove. “There were spurts where adversity hit us, but it was good for us.”

The Trojans (18-2, 5-1 MIC) seemed to gain control of the game early in the fourth quarter. They had survived Ben Davis’ stifling man-to-man defense, which forced 12 first-half turnovers, and built a 45-33 lead after Eck’s putback basket with 5:31 to play.

But the Giants (12-8 overall, 3-3 MIC) responded by scoring 11 straight points to cut the lead to 45-44 with 2:06 to play. Khera Goss, who scored nine of her 13 points in the fourth quarter, converted a three-point play to tie the game at 51-51 with 37.4 seconds left.

Center Grove ran the clock down to 7.0 seconds left before Goss fouled Ella Thompson. Thompson, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds and hit 8 of 10 free throws overall, missed the first foul shot before hitting the second to give the Trojans a one-point lead. Ben Davis drove across midcourt and called timeout with 4.2 seconds left.

The Giants inbounded the ball on the left side, about 30 feet from the basket, hoping to get Newsom a 3-point look. She had already hit four 3-pointers en route to her team-high 14 points. But Center Grove’s Emily Rake, who initially was guarding the inbound pass, sagged off the inbounder to help out on Newsom, who caught the pass but had to take a hurried runner in the lane against a double-team.

The ball bounded off the back rim and into Eck’s hands.

“Emily Rake made a big play,” Center Grove coach Kevin Stuckmeyer said. “They got a decent look, but we made them earn it.”

Emma Utterback added 11 points for the Trojans, including a pair of clutch free throws with 54.2 seconds left, and Mary Wilson contributed 11 points off the bench.

Ben Davis’ defense gave Center Grove fits (18 turnovers overall), but the Trojans’ D forced the Giants into a lot of tough shots. Ben Davis attempted 13 more field goals than Center Grove (48-35), but hit just one more (18-17). The Trojans made up the difference by getting to the freethrow line more often. They hit 16 of 22 from the line, while the Giants only attempted 14 foul shots, hitting 11.

“It was good that we were efficient in scoring,” Stuckmeyer said of the Trojans’ 17-of-35 shooting. “When you play Ben Davis, you have to embrace adversity. Even when we were up 10, I wasn’t comfortable.”

Center Grove returns to action Tuesday at Greenwood.