SAN ANGELO, TX — After dropping their district opener, the last thing the Central Lady Cats needed Tuesday was to start in a 12-0 hole against Midland High.
It provided an opportunity, however, for head coach An’Jolique Woodson to find out what her team was made of.
Central clawed back from the early deficit to take the lead by halftime, and the Lady Cats hung on for a hard-fought 36-31 win on their home court at Babe Didrikson Gym.
Central improved to 8-17 overall and 1-1 in District 2-6A. Midland High fell to 15-10, 1-1.
“I think it was really important for us to get this win, especially if we want to stay in playoff contention,” Woodson said. “I told the girls it’s going to be really hard if we go 0-2 in district, so we’ve got to make sure we execute and fight and do everything we need in order to win this basketball game, and I think that’s exactly what we did.
“I’m so proud of them, especially defensively. Their defense looked very, very good, especially for being undersized.”
Midland High used its significant size advantage — and a strong defense of its own — to race to an early lead and hold Central scoreless for nearly seven minutes to start the game.
Woodson called two timeouts during the 12-0 run to try and turn things around.
“I’m thinking, ‘OK, the zone isn’t working. We need to go ahead and get in our man-to-man defense and pressure the guards,’” Woodson said. “That’s the main point of emphasis that I think allowed us to win the game. We pressured the guard and forced them to turn the ball over or made it really hard for them to pass the ball in the post, because they had the size advantage against us.”
The Lady Cats finally got on the scoreboard when Sophie Hernandez knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:13 left in the first quarter.
Central slowly chipped away at the deficit and took its first lead at 18-17 on a 3-pointer by senior Reegan Howell.
Another 3-pointer by Howell at the halftime buzzer gave Central a 21-19 lead.
Central’s defense held Midland High to only five points in the third quarter as the Lady Cats took a 29-24 lead into the fourth quarter.
It was a defensive war all night, and it was even more intense in the final quarter, but Central never let Midland High get closer than four points.
Central sophomore Karsyn Scott made a critical steal under the basket with about 21 seconds remaining to seal the win.
“I thought they were very resilient,” Woodson said. “I was telling them in the locker room we’d really only played two games like this all season. So this was the third time in the atmosphere of having a close game the whole entire time, or even having to come back and thing slike that.
“I was happy we were able to make our free throws when we needed to, knock down shots when we needed to, and most of all be able to handle the pressure and make good decisions.”
Howell led Central with a game-high 10 points, while Jazmyne Gipson had nine. Midland High’s 6-foot-2 sophomore, Deborah Ojo, paced the Lady Bulldogs with eight points.
Central will play again Friday when it travels to play Frenship. Midland High will host crosstown rival Midland Legacy the same night.
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