GBB: Center Grove’s big comeback seals 48-44 win over Decatur Central

By E. Shawn Aylsworth
Managing Editor

GREENWOOD – Host Center Grove trailed Decatur Central 39-28 after three quarters of play in its season-opening girls basketball game Nov. 18. In the parlance of presidential candidate John McCain, the Trojans had the Hawks right where they wanted ’em.

By canning all eight of its final free throws and holding Decatur Central to just two points until a meaningless 3-pointer just ahead of the final buzzer, Center Grove came back from the dead to capture a 48-44 victory.

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The visitors, who came in with two games under their collective belts, controlled this one throughout. Leading 13-7 after one, Decatur Central built its advantage to 11 on two occasions before halftime, the last coming at 26-15 on a second-chance layup by 5’10” junior forward Diana Jovanovic.

But Center Grove went on a 12-4 run spiked by back-to-back threes from 5’10” senior guard Kelli Lippold and 5’9” senior guard Brittney Shaner to cut the lead to just 26-23 at the break.

The Hawks came out strong in the second half, scoring the first points of the third period on a bizarro three-point play that consisted of a free throw by 5’10” senior forward Olivia Yaryan and then a layin by 5’6” freshman guard Lexus Murry that followed at least three – if not four – offensive rebounds.

Yaryan’s layin with 15 seconds to go in the third quarter once again jacked the Hawks‘ lead up to 11, and there still appeared to be no reason to panic when Jovanovic hit one of two free throws for a 40-32 lead on Center Grove 6-foot senior center Hannah Bedan’s fourth foul with 6:04 to play.

Note the 1-of-2 free throw success, however – it was a big-time harbinger of things to come.

The Hawks would convert only two of their eight free throw attempts in the fourth quarter. Combine that with a bevy of turnovers and no less than three misses on easy drives to the bucket in the game’s last two minutes, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Mix in Center Grove’s flawless 8-of-8 effort from the stripe over the contest’s final 2:27, and Decatur Central’s goose was cooked.

The Trojans were led by the 14 points of 6’2” junior center Kirsten Gliesmann, who was joined in double figures by 6-foot sophomore forward Melody Doss with 10 points. Shaner added nine points for 15th-year CG coach Joe Lentz’s team.

Decatur Central’s standout 5’10” junior forward Anna Munn, meanwhile, led all scorers with 18 points.

Center Grove will get to savor the victory for two days before battling Indian Creek Nov. 20 in the second semifinal of the Johnson County Tournament at Whiteland. Indian Creek (2-0) advanced by downing Edinburgh, 82-30, on Tuesday. The winner of their semifinal will face either Franklin (1-0) or host Whiteland (3-0), a 64-43 first-round winner over Greenwood, for the county title Nov. 22.

Decatur Central has now sampled schools from three of the state’s toughest conferences, going 1-2 against the Hoosier Crossroads Conference’s Brownsburg (a 53-28 win in the season opener), Conference Indiana’s Perry Meridian (a 60-55 loss), and now Center Grove of Indiana’s deepest league, the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference.

Next up for the Hawks is their first home game, a Nov. 20 date with Roncalli (1-0).