The Centre College women's basketball team opened its 2005-06 season with a 64-58 win over Defiance College, Friday, Nov. 18, in Danville, Ky. The game was played as part of the Country Hearth Inn/Lee's Famous Recipe Tournament, hosted by Centre College.
With the win, the Colonels start the season 1-0 for the second straight year, while Defiance falls to 0-1. Centre also started the 2004-05 season with a win in last year's season-opening tournament.
The Colonels led for most of the first half, jumping out to an early 8-2 lead. The Yellow Jackets fought back and took an 12-10 lead midway through the first period. Centre reclaimed the lead and extended it to seven points before Defiance closed the half with a 12-4 run to take a 30-29 lead into the intermission.
The second half was tightly contested as well. The Yellow Jackets led for most of the second half, leading by as many six points. After a Defiance basket put the Yellow Jackets ahead 46-41 with 7:52 left in the game, Centre went on a 7-0 run to take a 48-46 lead at the 6:34 mark.
The remainder of the game went back and forth with three different ties. With the score tied 54-54 with just over two minutes to play, the Colonels ended the game with a 10-4 run to seal the win.
Three Colonels finished the game with double-figure scoring, led by senior Chelsea Wessel's 16 points off the bench, including two big three-pointers down the stretch. Sophomore Monica Vonderbrink posted 15 points, five assists and four steals and sophomore Lauren Clontz added 12 points on five of six shooting. Senior Mary Klee scored only eight points, but pulled down a team-high seven rebounds in 28 minutes of play.
After serving as the women's assistant coach for the past eight seasons, Wendie Austin-Robinson records her first women's bassketball head-coaching victory at her alma mater. Centre has now won three straight games dating back to the 2004-05 season.
The Colonels will play Kenyon College in the championship game, Saturday, Nov. 19, at 3:00 p.m. in Danville, Ky. Kenyon defeated Marian College 48-34 in the first game of the tournament. The consolation game between Marian and Defiance will begin at 1:00 p.m.
Newspaper Box Score Defiance College vs Centre College 11/18/05 7:00 p.m. at Danville, KY At Danville, KY CENTRE COLLEGE 64, DEFIANCE COLLEGE 58 DEFIANCE COLLEGE (0-1) Bird, Sarah 8-13 1-4 19; Savard, Meghann 4-6 7-8 15; Jones, Kara 3-12 1-2 9; Mengerink, Kayla 3-8 2-5 8; Headley, Melissa 1-1 0-0 3; Myers, Megan 0-0 2-2 2; Grime, Sarah 1-1 0-0 2; Lieto, Stephanie 0-0 0-0 0; Franks, Erica 0-2 0-0 0; Ramsay, Allison 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-43 13-21 58. CENTRE COLLEGE (1-0) Chelsea Wessel 7-8 0-0 16; Monica Vonderbrink 4-10 7-8 15; Lauren Clontz 5-6 2-6 12; Mary Klee 4-7 0-2 8; Alison Denbow 2-4 0-0 5; Rebecca Rhule 1-6 0-0 2; Jennifer Marees 1-3 0-0 2; Ande Loveless 1-5 0-0 2; Shelly Johnson 1-6 0-2 2; Dana Smith 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-55 9-18 64. Defiance College.............. 30 28 - 58 Centre College................ 29 35 - 64 3-point goals-Defiance College 5-18 (Jones, Kara 2-9; Bird, Sarah 2-5; Headley, Melissa 1-1; Franks, Erica 0-2; Mengerink, Kayla 0-1), Centre College 3-14 (Chelsea Wessel 2-2; Alison Denbow 1-2; Rebecca Rhule 0-4; Shelly Johnson 0-1; Monica Vonderbrink 0-5). Fouled out--Defiance College-None, Centre College-None. Rebounds-Defiance College 32 (Savard, Meghann 10), Centre College 30 (Mary Klee 7). Assists-Defiance College 7 (Mengerink, Kayla 4), Centre College 17 (Monica Vonderbrink 5). Total fouls-Defiance College 17, Centre College 20. A-273 Game 2 of Country Hearth Inn/Lee's Famous Recipe Tournament Centre advances to the finals Saturday, November 19 at 3:00 p.m. This is Coach Austin-Robinson's first career win as a head coach.