Looking to dish — Central senior guard Lily Butler looks to the wing for a pass in the third quarter of the Lady Cougars’ 60-34 win over Freeburg on Tuesday, Dec. 23 in Mascoutah. Butler had 10 points and three rebounds. PHOTO BY JEREMY CHAWGO The Central Cougars girls basketball team had a successful week of action as they claimed third place at the prestigious Mascoutah Holiday Tournament.
The Cougars took down Freeburg and Alton before falling to Nashville in the title game. Central is currently 11-2 on the season and they host Civic Memorial on Tuesday, Jan. 6 at Stan Eagleson Gymnasium.
Nashville 51, Central 40: The Hornettes never trailed in the championship game victory.
“I really can’t fault our kids’ effort, Nashville was just a little too good for us today,” Central coach Nathan Rueter said. “We have got to figure out some things and get some things cleaned up. Today just wasn’t our day.”
Nashville had a 41-28 fourth-quarter lead before a senior Lexi Morris basket and a senior Taylor Trame 3-pointer got the Cougars within eight points at 41-33. Junior Samantha Brinkmann had back-to-back baskets to give the Hornettes a 45-33 lead.
Senior Lily Butler had a basket to get Central within 45-35. Nashville went on a 4-1 run to take a 49-36 lead following a Brinkmann free throw. Butler and Trame had baskets to get Central within 49-40. Junior Summer Brinkmann made two free throws to give Nashville the 51-40 victory.
Mid-court battle — Central junior guard Ella Nettemeier works against the defense of Freeburg’s Madi Spinner in the third quarter of the Cougars’ 60-34 win on Tuesday, Dec. 23 in Mascoutah. Nettemeier had 13 points and eight rebounds in the Cougars’ win. PHOTO BY JEREMY CHAWGO Behind baskets from the Brinkmanns and junior Makayla Gajewski, Nashville jumped to a 6-0 lead. A senior Lexy Santel free throw got Central on the scoreboard. Gajewski had a basket to put Nashville up 8-1. Junior Ella Nettemeier made two free throws and Santel had a basket to get Central within 8-5 following the opening quarter.
“If you are going to sit back and just let them do their thing, they are tough to score against,” Rueter said. “Once we got the attacking mentality, things were a little bit better. Nashville is a good team, but we are disappointed. We wanted to win the game and we think we can win the game, so we have got to figure out what we can do next time to win the game.”
Summer Brinkmann made a 3-pointer to put Nashville up 11-5 to start the second quarter. Central went on a 6-4 run to get within 15-11 following a Trame basket. Summer Brinkmann and senior Belle Schmale made 3-pointers to put Nashville up 21-11. Trame responded with a 3-pointer to get Central within 21-14. Summer Brinkmann made a free throw to put Nashville up 22-14 at halftime.
Samantha Brinkmann opened the second half with a basket to give Nashville a 24-14 lead. Trame had five straight points to get Central within 24-19. Nashville went on an 11-2 run to take a 35-21 lead following a Schmale free throw.
Trame had five points during a 5-2 Central run to get the Cougars within 37-26 going into the fourth quarter.
Trame led Central with 21 points and five rebounds. Santel had six points. Summer Brinkmann had 21 points for Nashville. Samantha Brinkmann had 12 points.
Central 49, Alton 37: The Lady Cougars avenged their lone loss of the season with a semifinal win over the Redbirds on Saturday in Mascoutah.
The game featured an abundant amount of stoppages with 39 combined turnovers and 45 combine personal fouls called in the game with five players fouling out of the contest.
The Lady Cougars used a hot start to take control in a game where they trailed for just 90 seconds in the contest.
Senior Taylor Trame and Lexy Santel set the tone for CHS as Trame, an SIUE signee, hit for a pair of conventional three-point plays for a 6-2 lead.
With the game square 6-6, Alton took their lone lead of the game with a bucket from Ja’Kayla Steen. Santel dialed a three-pointer up with 90 seconds left to ignite a 14-0 scoring run from the Cougars.
Trame, Santel and Lily Butler each hit two free throws in the run while Trame hit a drive as the lead grew to 21-8 midway through the second quarter. Alton went 8:45 without a field goal.
Aryanna Anthony hit for two buckets down the stretch for the Lady Birds, who trailed 24-13 at the break.
Trame had 12 points in the opening half while Santel had eight. CHS was 6-of-19 from the field with 10 turnovers. Alton had a dozen turnovers.
Central got the first 10 points of the third quarter with triples from Trame and Santel, while Trame had two pull-up jumpers for a 34-13 lead with 2:30 remaining in the frame.
Alton got the next nine points with a three-pointer from Kyridas Orr and a layup from Steen as they trailed 34-22 entering the fourth quarter.
The Cougars turned the ball over five times in the fourth quarter and managed just two field goals as the Redbirds made another run.
To the rim — Central senior Taylor Trame drives to the basket against Freeburg in Tuesday’s 26-point win over Freeburg at the Mascoutah Holiday Tournament. Trame had seven points and five rebounds in the victory. PHOTO BY JEREMY CHAWGO A Trame bucket gave Central a 38-26 lead before Orr and Justice Haynes each had buckets to get back within single digits at 38-30 midway through the fourth.
Lexi Morris hits two free throws, while Trame and Ella Nettemeier each hit 1-of-2 as Central took a 42-30 lead.
Allison Pruitt drained a three-pointer, just the second of the game for Alton as they crawled within 42-33 with three minutes left.
Morris hit one of two from the line while Alton got the next four points to get within 43-37 with 60 seconds left in regulation.
The Cougars sealed the win with six-straight free throws with four coming from Morris and two coming from Butler to seal the victory.
Trame led all players with 22 points and five rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter. The senior was 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from the line.
Santel was 4-of-8 from the field and ended with 13 points and five rebounds. Morris had all eight of her points from the line. Butler hit for five points and nine rebounds.
Central was 12-of-29 from the field and 22-of-31 from the line. They were 3-of-9 from the arc and turned it over 19 times while being called for 16 fouls.
Alton was paced by Steen with 10 points in a game where they were 14-of-38 from the field that included them hitting on just two of their 13 three-point attempts. They were 7-of-16 from the line with 20 turnovers.
Central 60, Freeburg 34:
For the second time this season, the Lady Cougars had no trouble with the Midgets with this edition a quarterfinal battle at Mascoutah on Tuesday, Dec. 23.
The Cougars left no doubt with their suffocating defense where they forced seven turnovers in the first eight minutes while they never trailed in the contest.
The offense got going early with a three-pointer from senior Lily Butler in front of three jumpers from fellow senior Lexy Santel.
Trailing 9-0, Freeburg got a bucket from freshman Rayshiona Raymond to end the drought with their first bucket, 3:30 into the game. That was their only points of the frame.
Santel followed with a three-pointer of her own while Ella Nettemeier and Lily Henrichs converted transition buckets. The Cougars led 16-2 after eight minutes.
Nettemeier drilled a three-pointer from the top of the key to make it 19-2 before Lydia Derwort got a bucket for the Midgets as they went 5:30 with no points and trailed 18-4.
Santel added another jumper while Raymond hit two charity shots. Central scored the next nine points with a three-pointer from senior Taylor Trame and two buckets from Nettemeier and another from Mallory Shubert as CHS led 35-10 at the break.
Santel had 14 points at the break while Nettemeier added 11. Central had two turnovers while the Midgets had 14 turnovers and were led by Raymond’s six points.
The Cougars kept the pressure going with 12 more points in the third quarter with Santel hitting two more and Butler hitting a three-pointer. Raymond had eight points for FCHS who trailed 47-19 entering the final eight minutes.
Butler and Santel dialed long range again in the fourth quarter as did Kendyl Poettker. Raymond hit for three more buckets down the stretch and the Cougars advanced.
Santel had 21 points and eight rebounds. The forward was 9-of-18 from the field. Nettemeier hit for 13 points on 6-of-13 from the field to go with her eight rebounds.
Butler had 10 points while Trame added seven points. CHS was 24-of-64 from the field, including 9-of-25 from the arc. They turned it over three times and were 3-of-6 from the line.
Raymond had a game-high 20 points for Freeburg who were 12-of-41 from the field and 6-of-8 from the line. They turned the ball over 22 times.
