11-03-15 • By Zach Chriswell / zchriswell@columbustelegram.com

COLUMBUS — The Raiders held off a strong comeback attempt by the Lancers for their third win.

The Central Community College women's basketball team topped Mount Marty 75-68 Tuesday at the Raider Fieldhouse.

"Mount Marty is a pretty good team," Central head coach Mike Kroupa said. "They had some really good shooters. They're very well-disciplined, especially on offense. I think we really rushed things today. I got stubborn with some subbing patterns that I should have gotten out of. We had a game plan and we stuck to it and got the win, so that's always great."

Central jumped ahead early, but the Lancers answered in the first quarter to tie the game at 12-all.

The Raiders, though, were able to push ahead, securing a sizable lead at the half. Central outscored Mount Marty 27-15 in the second quarter and led 39-20 at halftime.

"I don't know that we necessarily started slow, it's that we were playing our pace and they were playing with us," Kroupa said. "In the second quarter, I thought they got a little winded and our ability to throw bodies at them just kind of wore them down."

The Lancers and Raiders traded baskets in the third quarter, with the Raiders holding a 22-21 advantage in the quarter.

"I didn't think the effort was bad, but we missed a lot of shots that we shouldn't have," Kroupa said of the third quarter. "Defensively, we didn't get through on screens and we held a little too much. I need to do a better job of coaching them up on that stuff."

After three quarters, the Raiders led 61-48.

But the Lancers kept at it, starting the final quarter on an 11-5 run. Mount Marty got within three points near the end of the game, but Central hit a couple of clutch free throws to seal the win.

"Yeah, they made it interesting, but I never felt like we weren't going to win," Kroupa said. "I felt confident that our girls would make good decisions. We had some solid sophomores who did a good job of leading the way."

Led by Octavia McGraw's 13 points, the Raiders had five scorers in double figures.

Central hosts the Doane JV on Tuesday.

Tuesday at the Raider Fieldhouse

Mount Marty 12 15 21 22 - 68

Central (3-0) 12 27 22 14 - 75

* Mount Marty (field goals-free throws-fouls-points) - Jenna Kittler 1 3-4 2 5; Karissa Chamley 4 2-4 2 12; Taylor Wingert 2 0-0 1 6; Mikayla Prouty 3 3-4 5 9; Kelsey Sutera 6 1-1 1 15; Kelli Steffen 1 0-0 1 2; Taylor Faltin 1 0-0 1 2; Sammy Kasowski 2 4-4 4 9; Ashley Green 4 0-0 4 8. Totals 25 13-17 20 68.

* Central - Kanesha Plater 4 3-5 2 11; Octavia McGraw 4 3-4 2 13; Kelsey Flaherty 1 2-2 1 5; Teisha Snyder 2 2-2 3 8; Paige Higginbotham 0 0-0 1 0; Christina Daniels 2 0-0 0 5; Shananthia Bryant 4 2-2 3 10; Maggie Adney 0 0-0 1 0; Montrese Weller 5 0-0 2 13; Megan Fiala 0 0-0 2 0; Makayla Augustine 4 2-4 2 10. Totals 26 14-19 19 75.

* 3-point field goals - Mount Marty 7 (Chamley 2, Wingert 2, Sutera 2, Kasowski 1), Central 9 (Weller 3, McGraw 2, Snyder 2, Flaherty 1, Daniels 1).