Center Grove was able to hold visiting Martinsville nearly 22 points below its scoring average Tuesday night, but it wasn’t enough.
Junior forward Ashlyn Traylor’s 20 points and another 12 from senior guard Pa’Shence Walker lifted the Artesians to a 44-38 victory that improved their record to 9-1.
The Trojans, who failed to place anyone in double figures, dropped to 6-6.
Center Grove’s only lead was when freshman guard Aubrie Booker swished a mid-range jumper for the game’s first points. The Trojans committed seven turnovers in the opening quarter, fell behind, 15-6, and spent the rest of the game trying to mount a comeback.
“It’s hard to win games when you do that,” Center Grove coach Kevin Stuckmeyer said. “They’re a good defensive team, but we also pride ourselves on taking care of the basketball, and being sharp with it. I think it’s a lot of a focus thing.”
Neither club shot well from the floor, though the Artesians’ 16 of 41 (39%) bordered on being a heat wave compared to Center Grove’s 12 of 47 (25.5%). Both teams finished with 19 turnovers, and the Trojans outrebounded Martinsville, 28-23, with senior swingman Mary Wilson and sophomore guard Emily Karr grabbing nine and seven, respectively.
The Artesians had opened up a 23-12 advantage at 3:33 of the second period, but Center Grove put together a 10-0 scoring run on a hoop from guard Kaho Takeda, two free throws by Wilson and consecutive 3-pointers by Ella Hobson and freshman backup Audrey Annee.
A pair of Traylor charities boosted the spread to three points at halftime.
“We competed enough there, but we have too many spurts one way or the other,” Stuckmeyer said. “We have too many inconsistencies. That spurt started from turnovers. It started from us guarding. When they can get down the lane and their shooters get open looks, we all of a sudden took that away for a two-minute stretch.
“You do that consistently, and then your offense looks a little bit better.”
The second half proved to be much of the same. Martinsville led by as many as nine points in the third quarter and 10 in the fourth. Center Grove closed to within five points late, but no closer.
Takeda scored eight points off the bench to lead the Trojans; Hobson, Booker and Annee finished with seven apiece.
First-year Martinsville coach Dave Dorsett figured his team would have difficulty scoring close to its average (65.6) given the Trojans’ defensive tenacity, but was happy with the win.
“(Stuckmeyer) does a heck of a job at Center Grove with his defensive pressure. He does a good job teaching help-side defense, and I just said that to our girls. We got the win, but we faced some of the toughest defense we’ve seen on our schedule so far,” Dorsett said. “It also makes us play at the other end a little harder. A little more crisp.
“We don’t strive to score 60, 70 points. We’ve just been able to do that. We’re not going to blow people out. We know that and we understand that.”
Center Grove is at home for its next game, a Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference battle against Pike at noon on Saturday.
