Centaurus wins battle of Warriors

GIRLS BASKETBALL

CHS knocks off Grand Junction Central to open 5A playoffs

Centaurus’ Alexa Lorton, front, tries to put up a shot past Grand Junction Central’s Krystyna Manzanarez during a Class 5A girls basketball playoff game Tuesday in Lafayette. MATTHEW JONAS — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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By Alissa Noe

anoe@ prairiemountainmedia.com

LAFAYETTE >> In a battle of dominance for the title of “top Warrior,” Centaurus girls basketball edged out Grand Junction Central when it mattered most.

In their first-round meeting of the Class 5A state tournament on Tuesday night at Centaurus High School, the home Warriors utilized strong zone defense — and a little bit of mental toughness in the second half — to defeat the visiting Warriors with a 46-33 final.

In a surprise to absolutely no one, senior shooting guard Laura Gensert took the reins of Centaurus’ offense with 16 points from every spot on the floor to further illuminate her versatility and leadership.

Senior forward Alexa Lorton shook off early, suffocating paint defense from GJ Central to score eight crucial points, mostly in the second quarter.

Lorton’s emergence in that second frame opened it up for Centaurus, who staved off a third-quarter comeback attempt from GJ Central. Instead, she helped extend her team’s season for at least one more game.

“Our coaches told us before the game that this is really going to be an inside-out game,” Lorton said. “Really focus on drilling it into the post and then getting it out, just because we did have a size advantage and we knew that they were going to double us. We knew that they were going to bring it.”

Both brigades of Warriors began the contest playing tough defense inside the paint, as Centaurus favored the 2-3 and 3-2 zones and Grand Junction Central focused more on choking out Lorton near the basket.

Unfortunately for the visitors, Gensert is lethal from long range.Centaurus ended the first quarter with a slight, 10-8 advantage before really opening up their offense by feeding the ball to Lorton and securing steal after steal and subsequent baskets from Ann Spence.

“If we were consistent inside all year, we would have been a much harder team to beat,” head coach Chris Mischke said. “And then we got Sam (Sterritt) going and then we’re really hard. With Laura being outside, and then we hit some other shots from some other kids — Sofia Dale had a couple put-backs — I mean, when we play as a team, we’re hard to beat.”

A 10-0 run in the final minutes of the first half gave them a 22-10 lead at the midway point, but that advantage wouldn’t last.

Centaurus struggled to find its shot during the third quarter. Meanwhile, on the other end of the floor, GJ Central drained 3 after 3 to close the gap to six points, 32-26, by the end of the frame.

Key injuries to the visiting team deflated its comeback down the stretch before Centaurus was able to pull away with the victory. Now, they’ll prepare to take on a scary good fourth-seeded Windsor team — evidenced by the Wizards’ 83-22 win over No. 29 Northfield on the same night — when the two meet at Windsor for the second round.

“I think that this will definitely help us bring the intensity, especially because Windsor does have some shooters,” Lorton said. “Having to deal with (GJC’s Brynn Wagner, Alex Wagner and Liana Bryant) on this team, it’s really just (what) we need to be able to focus and get out and move fast and communicate.”