Girls Basketball: Burlington Central takes down Genoa-Kingston

Updated: January 28, 2012 11:55PM

More often than not it has been all or nothing for Burlington Central this season and on Saturday night it was all good.

Of the Rockets’ 10 wins they have now won by 19 or more points seven times after routing Genoa-Kingston for the second time this year with a 49-28 win in Big Northern East action. The Rockets have also lost by 20 or more points five times this season.

“There have been a lot of ups and downs for us so far,” said Central coach Jenna Real. “So much seems to matter on how we start the game. If we do well in the first quarter it builds our confidence and we usually have a good game. If we get off to a slow start we seem to have a hard time recovering. Tonight we had one of those good starts and we continued on from there.”

Sarah Nelson and Amanda Ritchie each had three-pointers in the first quarter to help put the Rockets in the lead 13-8. Alison Colby finished the first half with seven points as Central extended its advantage to 22-9 at the break. The Rockets stingy defense held the Cogs without a basket in the second quarter on 0-of-11 shooting.

“I thought we came out very composed on both ends of the court,” said Real. “We were very disciplined and not rushing things when we had the ball. And on defense I thought we did a much better job with our help defense.”

Freshman point guard Jackie Collins provided the Rockets with a big lift off the bench in the third quarter when she came in for Erica Hayes, who got in foul trouble. Collins scored all of her team-high 10 points in the third quarter, including a pair of three-pointers, as the Rockets scored 16 points to go up 38-18 heading into the final quarter.

“Jackie did an excellent job of stepping in when we needed her tonight,” said Real. “She has a lot of talent and we’ve been trying to work her in more and more. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before sees even more playing time.”

The Rockets (10-13, 4-3) had a total of 11 players score, including eight off the bench that combined for 29 points. After Collins, Ritchie led the subs with seven points.

“It’s nice having that kind of depth,” said Real. “We have 15 girls on the roster who all want to get in, so it’s very competitive for playing time.”

G-K (7-12, 1-6) struggled to get anything going offensively in the first half as it hit just 2-of-18 shots and turned the ball over 16 times.

“I certainly thought the effort was there,” said G-K coach John Mason. “But if you can’t put the small round thing in the bigger round thing you’re not going to win many games.”

Andrea Strohmaier led the Cogs with nine points. Rachel Ellstrom along with Jessie Dwyer off the bench added eight points each.

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