Warrior girls rout West Central

By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register

The Central girls basketball team rolled to a 68-20 win over West Central on Jan. 16.

The Warriors started the game on a 26-0 run, holding the Blue Devils to just seven points over the first two quarters to take a 38-7 lead into halftime. They kept the defensive clamps on in the second half, scoring 18 points off West Central turnovers, while accumulating 23 deflections, 11 steals and two blocks. 

While the defense did its job, the offense assisted, as the Warriors shot 44 percent from the field, including 35 percent from beyond the arc. Thirty points came in the paint. 

Leading the offense was Ashlyn Scherf, who scored 18 points and had seven rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block. Brylee Erickson followed with 13 points, two rebounds and two steals, and Katie Royer had a career-high 11 points with two steals. 

The offense was aided by a solid performance from the bench, as Oakley Armstrong, Layla Embretson and Makayla Erickson combined for 15 points and 12 rebounds. 

Grace Kuehl led the Warriors with five assists and tallied seven points and seven rebounds. 

One area the Warriors will look to improve is free throw shooting. Though the 42.9 percent from the line didn’t impact this game, it has the potential to influence future match-ups. 

The Warriors now have their busiest week of the season, with four games in five days. It started Jan. 22, with a visit from 11-4 and conference leading Kee. They traveled to 2-14 Postville on Jan. 23, before another home game Jan. 25 versus 8-5 Waukon. Central will close out the week Jan. 26 against 7-8 Clayton Ridge.