(December 22nd, 2014) – PIONEER: With Fairview stepping into their nest, the Lady Eagles of North Central stood ready to fend off the Apache invaders. Despite a resilient effort, the Pioneer girls were unable to do so, however.
A scoring surge in the third quarter by Fairview doomed the Eagles, as they fell 63-46.
The first period was also a rough one for North Central. They were outscored by the Lady Apaches 15-6. Not deterred in the least, the Lady Eagles battled back in the second quarter, winning the period 17-12. This put the girls of North Central down just 4 points heading into halftime, 27-23.
Fairview would double their score in the third quarter, though. Putting up another 27 points coming out of the locker room, the Apaches only gave up 12 to the North Central offense. Heading into the fourth quarter at a 54-35 disadvantage, the Eagles struggled to make up the difference. While they produced more points than Fairview in the final period 11-9, they couldn’t work their way back into the contest.
Eagle Cady VanDeVoorde led all scorers with 15 points. The North Central junior connected on 4 of her three point attempts, also registering a basket from within the arc. Senior teammate Sabrina Pickford totaled 12 points in the game. Aside from her 5 two-point field goals, Pickford also went a perfect 2 for 2 from the free throw line. Fellow senior Rachel Oxender scored 10 points in the losing effort as well, which included her making all 4 of her free throw attempts.
North Central shot an impressive 87.5% from the charity stripe. However, that number becomes less of a factor in the game when one realizes that they only had 8 attempts, even though they made 7 of them. The Lady Eagles needed to be a bit more aggressive attacking the basket, particularly when they were shooting so well from the line.
Turnovers played a role in the Eagle loss as well. North Central turned the ball over 17 times against the Apache defense. Fairview, on the other hand, committed just 13 turnovers, allowing them to do more with their possessions.
But it was that defensive lapse in the third quarter that did in North Central. Other than that period, the Lady Eagles were competitive with their Green Meadows Conference foe.