Second half woes prove fatal for Tri-Central

By GENE F. CONARD
Tribune sportswriter

February 09, 2008 11:53 pm

— CHALMERS — For a brief moment here Saturday night in the Class A Frontier Sectional, the Tri-Central Trojans had a fifth sectional championship well within their grasp.
After trailing 10-2 in the first quarter, the Trojans erupted for 20 points in the second period, and had a comfortable 33-20 lead early in the third quarter.
But just as suddenly, all that glistened was not gold.
The Trojans lost sight of the basket, mishandled the ball, and the Lafayette Central Catholic Knights out-gunned the Trojans 36-13 in the last 15 minutes to take the championship trophy 56-49.
In winning the school’s third straight sectional title, the Knights outscored the Trojans 38-18 in the second half, took advantage of a suddenly stalled Trojan offense and shaky hands that committed one costly error after another. The Trojans had a 37-34 lead heading into the final quarter, and they were still up 43-40 with 5:32 left to play. But that was where the Trojan game went sour.
Grace Walker hit a big 3-pointer to tie it at 43 with 5:26 left. Four free throws later, the Knights found themselves ahead 47-43 with two minutes remaining. The Trojans suffered a four minute dead spot, during which they gambled on defense, committing several fouls, and the Knights capitalized by hitting free throws.
TC coach Kathie Layden spoke to a solemn group of players for the last time, and then offered, “We did a great job of rotating in the first half, but in the second half we didn’t rotate, we dribbled too much, instead of passing, and we didn’t look for our shots. I find it odd in the first half — we only had five fouls, and the second half we committed 20.”
Amber Suiters propelled the Trojans (16-9) to the halftime advantage with 12 points, 10 coming in the second quarter when TC started taking control. Defensively, the Trojans rattled the Knights into 10 first half turnovers, and allowed them seven baskets in 22 shots. At the same time, TC was hitting 11 of 19 shots, and had control of the game.
But then came that fatal second half.
Amber Suiters had 22 for TC. Haley Hewitt added nine.