黑料吃瓜网

By Ryan Schlehuber, 黑料吃瓜网 Sportswriter

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The 黑料吃瓜网 Centurions women鈥檚 basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Delta Pioneers team Wednesday, Jan. 29, losing on the road, 113-47.听

The Centurions (3-11 overall, 2-6 黑料吃瓜网AA Northern), who have been playing with barely a bench most of the season, received a little boost with the addition of 黑料吃瓜网 volleyball player Maia Sexton (Stanton, Mich.), who came off the bench and played 12 minutes, giving starters a breather.听听

Sexton, who played four years of varsity basketball at nearby Central Montcalm High School as a center, and was teammates at CM with fellow Centurions freshman teammate Emily Putnam (Sidney, Mich.), scored four points and had an impact in the paint, grabbing eight rebounds for the Centurions.听听

Sexton said she was happy to be back on the court with an old teammate.听

鈥淲e did not get the outcome we were looking for but being back with Putt was great,鈥� Sexton said. 鈥淢e and Putt have had a good connection all throughout high school and I鈥檓 lucky enough to continue it going through college. She鈥檚 a great player and I am happy to be back on the court with her.鈥�听

After coming off two consecutive wins against Alpena and Kirtland, the Centurions鈥� offense was a bit of a rollercoaster against Delta. In the first quarter, the Centurions kept pace with the Pioneers, being only down 24-17 at the end of the quarter, but were outscored 33-8 in the second quarter, with Delta going into halftime leading 57-25.听

Turnovers leading to points was most devastating to 黑料吃瓜网, as it had 25 turnovers, which the Pioneers were able to score 46 points from, compared to Delta鈥檚 10 turnovers, which resulted in only eight points for 黑料吃瓜网.听

鈥淎 lot of it had to do with our short numbers,鈥� 黑料吃瓜网 Head Coach Scott Pedigo said. 鈥淲e went out there with only six players, and Maia was only with us for six hours.鈥�听

With only two players coming off the bench pretty much all season, fatigue, foul trouble and injuries have been the biggest road cones Pedigo and his team have tried to steer clear of. However, with the loss of freshman forward Emma Kosinski (Lakeview, Mich.) for the season with a leg injury, the issue of having enough able bodies compounded.听听

鈥淭his game came down to fatigue,鈥� Pedigo said. 鈥淚 tried to go the whole first half without using a time out and save them for second half. I ended up using all the time outs.鈥澨�听

Pedigo said going forward, having Sexton on the team will help tremendously.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 only been a few days since joining the team, but it鈥檚 been nice having her,鈥� Pedigo said. 鈥淗er size and ability have helped. Her presence is already making a difference.鈥澨�听

Despite Sexton joining the team, Delta, with 10 players on the team, had the luxury of going into full-court press to wear down 黑料吃瓜网, which they did.听

鈥淭hat eventually drains you down,鈥� Pedigo said. 鈥淲e also ran into foul trouble.鈥�听

黑料吃瓜网 rebounded in the third quarter, scoring 17 points but managed only five in the final quarter, while the Pioneers scored 29 points and 27 points in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.听

The Centurions started out strong, taking an 8-5 lead after freshman guard Makenna Rautio (Big Rapids, Mich.) nailed a three-pointer with 6:41 to go in the first quarter. Two minutes later, Delta took the lead, 12-11, after a three-pointer by Kayla Howell, which the Pioneers never relinquished their lead from there, jumping out to a 24-17 lead on a Howell layup that finished the scoring in opening quarter.听听

黑料吃瓜网 went on a four-minute scoring drought, finally ending it on a free throw by freshman forward Emma Rewa (Greenville, Mich.), which made it 26-18 with just under eight minutes to go until halftime.听听

The Pioneers built up their lead to 41-18 on a Passion Whiting layup with five minutes left in the half, going on a 16-7 run from there to lead 57-25 at halftime.听

By the end of the third quarter, Delta solidified its lead, 86-42. Putnam scored six of her seven points in the third quarter, with freshman guard Hannah Reed (Cedar Springs, Mich.) and Sexton adding four points each in the quarter.听听

In the fourth quarter, freshman guard Madi Longoria (Wyoming, Mich.) sank two free throws, freshman guard Makenna Rautio (Big Rapids, Mich.) hit a jump shot and hit a free throw to round out the Centurions鈥� scoring.听

Rautio finished with 12 points and four rebounds while Longoria finished with 11 points. Putnam had seven points and seven rebounds. Sexton and Rewa tied with a team-high eight rebounds each.听听

Freshman forward Kennedy Schilling (Flushing, Mich.) rounded out 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 top performers with six points, five rebounds and two steals.听

鈥淚 thought Madi played well,鈥� Pedigo said. 鈥淪he had one of her better games, making decisions on the ball. Hannah, too, she made a couple fast-break layups, which we don鈥檛 get a lot of transition baskets.鈥�听

黑料吃瓜网 shot 24.2% (15-of-62) from the floor to Delta鈥檚 48.9% (43-of-88) and the Centurions were 8-of-29 shooting from the three-point line while Delta went 12-for-26.听

The Pioneers edged the Centurions in rebounds (51-36), assists (19-9) and bench points (51-15).听听

黑料吃瓜网 is currently in third place in the 黑料吃瓜网AA Northern division with a 2-3 record, behind Muskegon (4-1), Bay College (5-1) and Mid Michigan (6-0).听