Burlington Central pulls away from East Aurora in 2nd half

Contrasting styles were on display when Burlington Central's girls basketball team hosted East Aurora Saturday.

While the Rockets want to push the ball upcourt at every opportunity, East Aurora wanted to play as deliberately as possible.

The Rockets ultimately prevailed, 42-29, but not before the Ladycats' slowdown game gave them some fits.

After leading just 20-19 at halftime, the Rockets opened the second half with an 8-1 run to take control. Kathryn Schmidt scored 3 of the Rockets' baskets in that run and assisted Zoey Kollhoff on the fourth.

Schmidt finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds as the Rockets improved to 21-3 with the nonconference win.

"We were concerned," said Central coach Mark Smith. "They ran a minute and a half off the clock and we ran 10 seconds. So we put the press on in the second half to pick up the pace a little bit and I thought we did a good job."

The Ladycats patiently worked the ball around the permitter waiting for an open shot. At least in the first half, their patience paid off with some open looks, several of which they knocked down. Alasha Moore hit 2 of East Aurora's four 3-pointers in the half to keep things close.

Schmidt's 3-pointer put Central ahead 16-8 early in the second, but East outscored the Rockets 11-4 the rest of the half.

"They hit some incredible shots, to their credit," Smith said. "I thought we defended better, and we gave up 10 points in the second half."

Elana Wells added 9 points for Central. Reili Gardner chipped in 6 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds. She had 4 points as the Rockets outscored the visitors from Aurora 14-3 in the third quarter.

Moore finished with 9 points to lead East Aurora.