Central girls turn back Thomasville

Fri. January 27, 2012 at 11:52 p.m. | By Mike Duprez

Thomasville’s Joslyn Spires drives past Central Davidson’s MacKenzie Burkhart during their game Friday night at Central. (Photo by Mike Duprez)

Central Davidson girls coach Kevin Hudson, irate over a turnover, slammed his clipboard down in disgust. Hudson did get over it quickly.

Led by Chandler Young and Victoria Hedrick, the Spartans slammed Thomasville 45-35 on Friday, knocking the Bulldogs out of a tie for first place in the Central Carolina Conference.

Young had a game-high 19 points, Hedrick had 14 and the Spartans led the entire game.

“I’m excited,” said Hudson, whose team is now 12-6 overall and 3-3 in the CCC. “Victoria played huge. Chandler played huge. MacKenzie (Burkhart) made some big plays when we needed them. We did a really good job overall.”

Central came out in a 2-3 zone and the Bulldogs (12-3 overall, 4-1 CCC) never could break it down in the first half. In fact, they hardly got any points. The Spartans led 24-10 at halftime.

The Spartans led 30-18 at the end of the third quarter when Thomasville finally picked up some steam with its press. Christina Coleman’s 3-pointer capped a 9-0 run and suddenly it was 30-27.

Young canned a pair of free throws after being fouled on a backdoor cut and Hedrick, playing with four fouls, hit a layup. Burkhart’s steal and coast-to-coast layup pushed Central back to a 38-29 lead. The lead grew to us as much as 13 in the final minutes.

“I think we just got tired,” said Thomasville coach Brandon Staton. “Fatigue set in, mentally, I think. They made some big shots and we were ice cold. We weren’t attacking the basket.”

Thomasville visits Salisbury on Saturday and Central goes to Salisbury on Tuesday.

Mike Duprez can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 218 or mike.duprez@the-dispatch.com.