Centreville and White Pigeon square off in regular season finale.
(Photo by Chris Carpenter)
A defensive fight marked the end of an era and the White Pigeon girls basketball team claimed its last St. Joseph Valley League victory Friday 30-14 on the road against Centreville.
The last year of the league saw the Chiefs finish 2-4 and the Bulldogs 0-6.
On the defensive end, the Centreville girls basketball team looked like it was in good shape on Friday night. The Bulldogs held White Pigeon to just 14 points in the first three quarters of play.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, their offensive exploits didn’t match with their defensive production as Centreville still fell 30-14.
“When you hold an opponent to 14 points through three quarters, you would usually expect be ahead in the game at that point,” Centreville coach Jill Peterson said. “Unfortunately, we shot a frigid 11 percent for the game and it wasn’t our night.
“If we’re going to have a cold spell in the next week, I’d rather have it be tonight than any of the games moving forward. We now begin postseason play. Anything can happen in the playoffs.”
Meanwhile, Haley Miller gave White Pigeon a lift with 10 points, six rebounds and three steals. She had nine of those points in the fourth quarter, when the Chiefs broke through with 16. Rachel Brock added eight points, three steals and seven rebounds on the night and Skyler DeMeyer had six points, five steals and four rebounds.
Riley Phelps and Bethany Hagner both had three points apiece for White Pigeon, which ended the regular season at 10-8.
“I am really proud of how hard our girls worked tonight, especially defensively,” White Pigeon coach Jeff Baechler said. “I am most excited to have finished with a winning season for our seniors.”
While anything can happen in the playoffs, nothing was happening for the Bulldogs (4-14) offensively Friday. Faith Morell led the effort with six points and Madison Hunter and Jenna Beeker both had four points. The Bulldogs had seven points at the half.
Both teams travel to Lawton next week for Class C district play. Centreville has a first-round bye and will play in the semifinals Wednesday. White Pigeon takes on Constantine Monday in the opening round.