Center Grove girls rally past North Central

<p>After a woeful second quarter, the Center Grove girls basketball team found itself down eight points against Class 4A No. 6 North Central on Thursday night.</p><p>Something clicked for the eighth-ranked Trojans in the locker room, however, and they were able to rally for an exciting 51-44 victory in Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference action.</p><p>So what did Center Grove coach Kevin Stuckmeyer say or do at halftime to get his team to flip the switch back on?</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>“I didn’t do anything,” he said. “They did it.”</p><p>The end result was the 15th consecutive victory for the Trojans (16-2, 4-1 MIC).</p><p>“We’re just competitive enough to know that we want to win these games for our coach, for us, and just get the job done and finish,” Center Grove junior guard Ashley Eck said.</p><p>Center Grove was able to get a handful of easy baskets in the opening minutes, stretching out to a 13-6 lead with 2:14 left in the first period.</p><p>But the Panthers battled back to within one by the end of the quarter and continued what turned into an extended 19-2 run over a span of almost nine minutes.</p><p>“They felt comfortable in the first half,” Stuckmeyer said. “We let (Meg Newman) catch where she wanted. We let their guards drive and get maybe a step closer to the basket. … They just got a lot around the basket where they just kind of caught it and finished without a lot of pressure.”</p><p>North Central was without Ohio State signee Rikki Harris, who injured her shoulder last week against Ben Davis. But the visitors clearly didn’t need their star guard to bother the Trojans with their superior length at both ends.</p><p>Center Grove went the final 11:25 of the first half without a field goal and were scoreless for a 5:39 stretch of the second quarter.</p><p>The third period was an entirely different story. Center Grove forced nine turnovers, four of them on steals by Utterback, and the takeaways in turn helped get the offense untracked. A 3-pointer by Utterback capped a 13-1 burst that allowed the Trojans to reclaim the lead at 28-26 with 3:51 to go in the quarter.</p><p>“The second quarter, adversity hit and we just didn’t have the composure that we normally have,” Ashley Eck said. “We just reset the tone and came back out and kept going up the line on defense and doing the things that we normally do.”</p><p>Still up one after Jasmine McWilliams opened the fourth with a basket for the Panthers, Center Grove got back-to-back 3s from Ella Thompson and another from Mary Wilson to stretch its advantage to nine, 42-33, with 4:54 to go.</p><p>North Central got back to within three in the closing minute, but the Trojans were able to hang on, making nine of 10 fourth-quarter free throws.</p><p>Utterback finished with 17 points and six steals for Center Grove, while Eck turned in a solid all-around stat line of 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Thompson added 10 points.</p>