Center Grove’s Audrey Annee, right, drives to the basket during Tuesday’s matchup at Franklin Central.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
INDIANAPOLIS
The rims were at far greater risk than the nets during Center Grove’s season opener on Tuesday.
Yet when the Trojans needed to convert from the floor, as well as the free throw stripe, they did so in defeating host Franklin Central, 46-40.
Junior guard Audrey Annee scored eight of her game-high 14 points in the fourth quarter — including three of four shots from the charity stripe in the final 11.5 seconds — to keep the Flashes at bay.
Not often are first games exercises in precision at both ends of the court.
Such was the case Tuesday night, as Franklin Central turned the basketball over 20 times; the Trojans converted 12 of 42 (28.6%) field goal attempts and were 6 of 26 (23.1%) from behind the 3-point stripe.
“I think it’s a first-game-jitters kind of thing,” Annee said. “We put in a lot of work over the summer and in the preseason, so once we settled in and got our confidence, it started falling. It gets in your head, but you have to let it go.
“You keep confidence in yourself and eventually they’ll start falling.”
The Flashes led, 32-31, through the third stanza, but Annee’s triple from the right wing at 6:06 gave Center Grove a lead it didn’t relinquish. Senior guard Ella Hobson followed less than a minute later with a trey from the left side for a five-point cushion.
Franklin Central clawed to within a point at 2:33 and looked to take the lead after a Trojan turnover.
A Flashes timeout at 1:31 led to 5-foot-10 junior wing Carys Wilson driving in close, where she was long on a shot attempt and Center Grove senior Savanna Bischoff grabbed the rebound.
Two charities from Annee at 1:05 were followed by a Franklin Central turnover. Center Grove spread the floor, with junior guard Aubrie Booker eventually getting fouled and making both of her free throws with 27.7 seconds showing.
Wilson scored a chippy at the other end, and following a Flashes timeout, the hosts pressed the Trojans full-court. Center Grove moved the ball past midcourt with relative ease, leading to two more Annee free throws.
The closeness of the game wasn’t a surprise to anyone familiar with the series.
Center Grove took the floor Tuesday having won four of the last six games against the Flashes; each of the last five contests between the two schools was decided by eight or fewer points.
Hobson added 10 points, while Booker added nine and Savanna Bischoff eight. Annee led her team in rebounds with five. Senior backup guard Madison Monday drained all four of her 3-point attampts to lead the Flashes with 12 points, while Wilson added 10 and a game-high eight rebounds.
Trojans coach Kevin Stuckmeyer liked the way his players responded after making 3 of 15 from deep in the opening half.
“It’s a fine line between still having the confidence and taking what they give you,” Stuckmeyer said. “And they’re open, shoot it, because we have some good shooters. We just seemed rushed a little bit.
“Where we maybe shot the first pass when we could have maybe made an extra reversal and got a little bit better one.”
Center Grove is back in action on Saturday, playing at Class 4A No. 4 Fishers at approximately 6:30 p.m.
