First Posted: 2/9/2015
LIMA – It was senior night and the final home game for four Lima Central Catholic girls. They left Monsignor E. C. Herr Gymnasium with a smile on their face and a win in their pockets.
The Thunderbirds, including those four seniors — Sydney Santaguida, Liz Taflinger, Sydney Zerante and Kayla Verhoff — rode four solid quarters of play to a convincing 68-43 win over visiting St. Marys on Monday night.
St. Marys was able to stay within 13-12 after one quarter of play despite the LCC defense forcing them into six turnovers.
That was as close as the Roughriders would get.
Sophomore Madison Stolly paced the Thunderbirds to a 27-21 halftime lead with 13 points despite some shooting woes that resulted in a 4-of-12 first half from the field.
“Madison was getting to the hole but not quite finishing,” LCC coach Katie Krieg said. “We thought she would get better in the second half.”
Get better she did, as Stolly went 5-of-6 from the field the last two quarters and finished the night with a game-high total of 27 points.
The Thunderbirds put the game away in the third quarter as they raced to 26-13 advantage behind a hot effort of 10-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-6 from behind the arc.
St. Marys (8-11) was unable to close the gap and LCC outscored the Roughriders 15-9 to account for the final margin of victory.
The Thunderbirds had seven girls score in the game and Kayla Verhoff with 12 and Sydney Santaguida with 10 points joined Stolly in double digit scoring.
St. Marys had no one break double digits and was led in scoring by freshman Sydney Cisco with nine points that came on three 3-pointers.
LCC had a solid game shooting the ball as they finished at 48 percent on 25-of-52 from the field and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line.
“Sydney played her best game of the season tonight and we had everybody contribute,” Krieg said. “That was the best four quarters we played all year and everybody helped tonight.”
St. Marys shot 38 percent in the game on 17-of-44 from the floor but was hurt by 15 turnovers to only six miscues by the Thunderbirds.
