Bailee May attempts a shot in Tuesday’s win over Howardsville Christian.
(Photo by Chris Carpenter)
The Centreville girls basketball team took a 14-point advantage into intermission and finished off visiting Howardsville Christian Tuesday, 38-26, to kick off the 2013-14 season at home. It was the first of the two-day Centreville Preseason Tournament and the Bulldogs will take on Niles Brandywine, which beat White Pigeon 60-19, Wednesday in the championship.
Forward Bailee May’s varsity debut, in terms of playing a major role, was a doozy. The 5-foot-9 sophomore, who was called up from the JV team for the final game of the season last year, scored a game-high 14 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. She added a steal and two blocks to round out the stat sheet.
“Started off hard … strong offense and defense,” May said. “We struggled at times, but carried ourselves with confidence and teamwork throughout the game. The last quarter Howardsville started racking up points, but we adjusted and stopped them early and held them until the end.”
Junior forward Faith Morrell netted eight points, junior guard Becky Clementz led the squad with five assists to go with her four points and junior guard Mattie Kirby had three steals to go along with four points and four boards.
Bulldogs head coach Jill Peterson said she’s happy with the result but there’s room for a lot of improvement.
“While we had some positives and got the ‘W’, I don’t think our best team stepped on the court tonight,” she said. “I’m hoping we got the first game jitters out of the way and step on the court ready to play Brandywine tomorrow night. “They will be one of the best teams we play this season, and I think if we play to our potential we can stick right with them. We have a team loaded with potential. As the season progresses and we figure out roles and combinations, we’ll be a team to reckon with. The goal moving forward will be to become the team that sets the tempo, not the one dictated by the opponents.”