12/1/14 • By Zach Chriswell / zchriswell@columbustelegram.com

COLUMBUS -- The Raiders broke a three-game losing streak by taking down the Indians.

The Central Community College women's basketball team used a second-half surge to top McCook Community College 84-72 Monday at the Raider Fieldhouse.

"We needed to (win)," Central head coach Mike Kroupa said. "McCook has a good team, they're 8-5, and they play a tough schedule and it's a really good win for us. We had some injuries and some girls really stepped up and I'm really proud of them."

The Indians jumped out to an early lead, and despite a 4-all tie early in the game, McCook held the lead for most of the first half.

Down 29-23, Central went on a 20-11 run to close out the first half.

"The biggest thing was we picked up the ball pressure and that gave them some trouble and it jump-started our offense well," Kroupa said. "When we play really good defense, our offense really picks up."

Kroupa was pleased that at the break, the Raiders, despite not rebounding effectively, were ahead 43-38.

"I told them the fact that we're up by five and we rebounded so poorly, we're in a good position," Kroupa said.

Central stayed in control, playing with the lead in the entire second half.

However, that lead was cut to one or two points several times, as McCook was determined to stay in the game.

"The thing about McCook is that they're an excellent 3-point shooting team," Kroupa said. "They have two girls that average 45 percent from the 3-point line. It seemed like anytime we made a run, one of those girls would hit one. In the second half, we did a good job getting a hand in their face and I think that was the big difference for our defense."

It was the defensive help of Paige Higginbotham and Makayla Augustine that stood out to Kroupa in the second half.

"In the second half, in particularly, Paige Higginbotham really gave us a big lift, and now that volleyball is over, Makayala Augustine really gave us a huge lift -- we had two of our forwards foul out," Kroupa said.

Both LaShonda Brewer and Shananthia Bryant fouled out of the game.

Adrianna Beck scored a team-high 21 points for the Raiders. Lana'e Washington-Carson added 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Montrese Weller scored 13 points, and Bryant added 10 points and pulled down a game-high 12 boards.

Central improves to 6-5 with the win and travels to take on the Concordia JV Friday.

Monday at the Raider Fieldhouse

McCook 38 34 - 72

Central (6-5) 43 41 - 84

* MCCOOK (field goals-free throws-fouls-points) - Taylor Acosta 2 0-0 1 6; Abby Daffer 0 0-0 1 0; Lucia Archuleta 5 0-0 1 11; Chante Church 9 4-5 2 25; Kendra Baucom 2 3-4 4 7; Brooksie McWilliams 5 5-8 5 16; Chanele Blackshire 1 2-2 3 4; Sofija Pejcic 1 0-0 2 3. Totals 25 14-19 20 72.

* CENTRAL - Adrianna Beck 6 6-6 1 21; Kelsey Flaherty 1 0-0 0 3; Lana'e Washington-Carson 7 1-2 1 15; Shananthia Bryant 4 2-2 5 10; McKenna Rossmeier 2 3-5 3 8; Montrese Weller 5 1-2 2 13; LaShonda Brewer 4 0-0 5 8; Makayla Augustine 1 4-6 0 6. Totals 30 17-23 17 84.

* 3-point field goals - McCook 8 (Church 3, Acosta 2, Archuleta 1, McWilliams 1, Pejcic 1), Central 7 (Beck 3, Weller 2, Rossmeier 1, Flaherty 1).