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Lady Cats even up records with win

Oh Christmas three, oh Christmas three.

Tuesday, Central High School's Mercedes Lopez gave Lubbock High a very unwelcome early Christmas present by hitting four 3-pointers en route to a game-high 22 points as the Lady Cats downed the Lady Westerners 51-37 in a District 3-5A matchup.

The win squares the Lady Cats' overall record at 9-9 and their district mark at 3-3 heading into a holiday break that will now be much merrier for Central.

"We've really seen the progress with this group," said Central head coach Jan Wakefield, whose team has exceeded early expectations after returning just two letterwinners from last year's team.

Lopez is the lone returning starter and she really led the way Tuesday, just three days after she had been held to two points in a home loss to Amarillo High.

"I just didn't want to lose at home again," Lopez said.

"Amarillo was pretty much double-teaming our wings (Saturday), so when Mercedes got some daylight today it was nice to see her get some shots off," Wakefield said.

Lopez made the most of her opportunities, and also created a lot of her own with steals.

But there were several key factors in Central's success Tuesday.

Early on, Central's Shay Warren was a monster under the basket, grabbing five first-quarter rebounds.

"That's a credit to how hard she works," Wakefield said about how the 5-foot-9 Warren was consistently winning battles for the ball.

A pair of Warren's putbacks following offensive rebounds put Central up 18-10 in the opening minutes of the second quarter.

"We knew we had to win this game to stay in the playoff hunt so we brought a lot of intensity into this game," said Warren, who finished the game with nine points.

Nailah Jernigan, who scored eight points, was also a force inside for Central.

The Lady Cats would extend that lead throughout that second period and were up 33-16 at halftime.

Lubbock (2-18, 0-7) actually won the third quarter as the Lady Cats went cold, but the Central lead still never got below 11 points in the second half.

In the fourth quarter, Central was back to dominating again.

Hollie Gurrola was the only LHS player to reach double figures. She scored 13.

"The third quarter is still our nemesis, but it was nice to see us get momentum back and finish this one," Wakefield said.

The Lady Cats return to action Monday in the first round of the Copperas Cove Tournament against the host Lady Bulldogs at 7 p.m.

"We feel really good about where we are," Wakefield said. "We've battled hard every game, now we just have to keep it up."

Central girls 51, Lubbock 37