Early success key for Lady Raiders

SPRING HILL — A strong start was the key for Spring Hill’s girls Tuesday night, as the Lady Raiders overwhelmed visiting Centennial early and rolled to a 63-30 District 11-AAA victory.

Spring Hill outscored the Lady Cougars 23-5 in the opening eight minutes, then added a 31-15 second half to improve to 8-15 on the year and 3-11 in league play.

“We came out aggressive and played with confidence, which is what we need to do every night,” Lady Raiders coach Matt Horton said. “We can do that against anybody we play, we’ve just got to believe that.”

Sierra Stedman got things started by connecting on two straight 3-pointers, then her teammates kept the hot shooting going through the first quarter. Spring Hill connected on 9-of-13 of their shot attempts during the 23-point outburst. They had three 3-pointers — all from Stedman — and two free throws in the first quarter.

Defensively the Lady Raiders contested every shot. Centennial (2-20, 0-14) only managed to connect on 2-of-14 from the field in the first quarter. Spring Hill also forced turnovers, getting in passing lanes for steals that led to transition layups at the offensive end.

Stedman led the way for the Lady Raiders with 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Prairie Stedman and Madison Bonds each added 12 points and Ricole Alderson 11.

“The entire team played well,” said Horton, whose team converted 6 of 10 3-pointers. “We had a good team effort. They did a good job of doing everything we asked them to do.

“We made some big shots.” Horton said.

Early deficit tough to overcome: In the nightcap, Spring Hill trailed by 13 through the opening period and couldn’t dig out of the hole as Centennial got away with a 74-59 win.

Plagued by turnovers and shooting struggles, the Raiders (3-16, 0-14) were down 26-13 by the end of the first quarter. However, they battled back to make it a 45-41 game just after halftime.

“We outscored then in the second quarter because we limited our turnovers,” veteran Spring Hill coach Jimmy Young said. “When you limit your turnovers you have more possessions, and more chances to score.”

But it wasn’t enough. The visiting Cougars ran the margin back out to double digits, and kept it there the rest of the way.

“It was a four-point ballgame but then we made a couple of bad decisions, bad passes, they made a couple of shots,” said Young. “But we still fought back.”

Ty Bryant led the Raiders with 25 points. Alex Rose had five 3-pointers and scored 17 for Spring Hill, as the hosts connected on nine 3-pointers in the game.

Centennial (15-10, 8-6) got 19 points from Patrick Garrett, one of three double-digit scorers for the Cougars.

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Spring Hill girls 63, Centennial 30

C 5 10 9 6 — 30

S 23 9 16 15 — 63

Centennial (30) — Sheraton Foster 9, Harper Kline 9, Katie Rock 5, Hannah Wright 2, Julianna Garrison 2, Maiya Boyer 2, Mai Skinner 1

Spring Hill (63) — Sierra Stedman 18, Prairie Stedman 12, Ricole Alderson 11, Madison Bonds 12, Katherine Carter 4, Ava Herring 2, Elizabeth Dean 2, Isabella Phillips 2

3-pointers — Centennial 6 (Foster 3, Kline 2, Rock), Spring Hill 6 (S. Stedman 4, Bonds 2)

Centennial boys 74, Spring Hill 59

C 26 17 13 18 — 74

S 13 22 10 14 — 59

Centennial (74) — Patrick Garrett 19, Ben Brown 16, Isaiah Poore 15, Lincoln Aholt 8, Carter Speedy 7, John Fox 3, Luke Westmoreland 3, Ryan Lempley 2, Grant Sargent 1

Spring Hill (59) — Ty Bryant 25, Alex Rose 17, Brytten Georges 7, Elijah Armstrong 4, Max Phillips 2, Kaishean Brashear 2, Landon Secrest 2

3-pointers — Centennial 6 (Garrett 3, Speedy, Fox, Westmoreland), Spring Hill 9 (Bryant 3, Rose 5, Georges)