<p>Center Grove’s girls basketball team struggled early on to get its composure against an unbeaten Lawrence Central squad.</p>
<p>Once the Trojans settled down, however, there wasn’t a thing to worry about.</p>
<p>Four players scored in double figures and Center Grove used an extended 42-11 run in the middle of the game to put the clamps on what turned into a 70-46 rout of the Bears.</p>
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<p>The Trojans (9-1, 2-0 MIC) scored the first seven points of the game before the Bears answered with seven straight points of their own, and the game remained a one-possession affair for most of the rest of the first half.</p>
<p>But after a Da’Naria Washington basket tied the score at 14-14 with 3:06 to go in the second quarter, Center Grove finished the period with eight consecutive points to head into the break with control over the game.</p>
<p>"We just got sped up," Stuckmeyer said. "We talked pregame that they’re a team that wants to speed you up, wants to get you out of your own head a little bit and make fast decisions, take away your composure and your discipline. And we lost that a little bit … but credit our girls for bouncing back from that adversity."</p>
<p>That momentum carried over through the break, as a Claire Rake 3-pointer re-started a run that continued well into the third. Another Rake 3 with 4:02 left in the quarter stretched the Trojans’ lead to 36-15, and while Lawrence Central briefly slowed the bleeding with six points in a row, the Center Grove lead only continued to swell. Back-to-back Emily Rake layups before the third-quarter horn highlighted another 14-0 blitz that made it 56-25 early in the fourth.</p>
<p>Stuckmeyer likes the balance and efficiency that he’s seen from his team on the offensive end of late.</p>
<p>"We’re not relying on outside shots," he said. "We’re now a little bit more dynamic and can get the easier ones, and we get to the foul line a little bit more."</p>
<p>The lead grew as large as 34 before the Trojans eased off the gas pedal for the last couple of minutes.</p>
<p>Mary Wilson paced Center Grove offensively with 20 points. Ashley Eck finished with 14 points, 15 rebounds and four steals, and Emily Rake and Claire Rake contributed 13 points apiece.</p>
<p>"I really thought Ashley Eck controlled us and settled us down," Stuckmeyer said. "I thought her with the ball in her hands, and I thought Emily Rake did a really nice job of that tonight, those two, and then the others kind of followed their lead after that."</p>
<p>Jaliah Nailor led the Bears (8-1, 2-1) with 15 points in a losing effort.</p>
