Ascension Christian defeats Central Catholic 69-55

The duo of Jamilyn Ayo-Robinson and Alona Washington, along with containment of Central Catholic post player Yani Johnson, proved too much for Central Catholic to overcome as the No. 9 seed Lady Eagles fell 69-55 to No. 8 Ascension Christian in Division IV regional-round action Monday.
Ayo-Robinson and Washington combined for 54 points, with Ayo-Robinson scoring 29 and Washington, 26.
While Johnson finished the game with 15 points, often times, Ascension Christian (15-8) made someone else do the work inside.
“Our game strategy was to definitely defend the paint and to defend that three-point shot,” Ascension Christian Coach Michell Evans said. “They got a few off on us tonight, but we were OK with that as
long as we kept that controlled in the middle, but our girls shot and played awesome. They couldn’t miss tonight. They shot the ball very well. They moved the ball.
“We didn’t get stagnant in our offense, and they executed on defense for us,” Evans added. “They worked hard on the boards. They kept her (Johnson) off the boards, worked hard on those rebounds, so that made a difference.”
Central Catholic Coach Cory Brodie said R o b i n s o n a n d Washington hit a lot of tough shots against his defense.
“Credit to them,” Brodie said. “They came out. They scored the ball. They were on pace for about 80 points in the first half, and they got on few runs and we just never really made a run.”
While the game was close for a quarter, with Ascension Christian holding a 22-16 advantage, the Lions surged ahead by as much as 14 points at 38-24 on two free throws by Rhesa Jones with about 1:24 remaining in the half.
Central Catholic (12-15) cut its deficit to 38-27 at halftime after an Aaliyah Poole bucket late, but Washington nearly hit a deep three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Lions’ second-quarter run was aided by eight points from Jones and seven from
Ayo-Robinson.
While Central Catholic began the third quarter with two quick buckets by Johnson and Poole to cut its deficit to 38-31, the Lady Eagles could get no closer as turnovers and an Ascension Christian 16-3 run sunk the Lady Eagles.
“We talk about all it the time, if you don’t get a shot at the basket, you can’t win, so the turnovers really killed us,” Brodie said.
Evans said after that mini-Central Catholic run, she told her team to relax.
“We’ve struggled to play four solid quarters this year, and we were determined to do that, and I really think they did,” Evans said. “They played four solid quarters. We had some adjusting to do at times, but what team doesn’t, and we tried to put a little ball pressure (on Central Catholic) to create those turnovers to keep our momentum going.”
Ascension’s run pushed the score to 54-34 following Wa s h i n g t o n ’s three-pointer with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter to cap the run. The run also was aided by nine points from Ayo-Robinson.
Ascension Christian’s lead ballooned to as much as 22 at 59-37 follo w i n g a n o t h e r t h r e e - p o i n t e r b y Washington with less than three minutes remaining.
The closest Central Catholic got the rest of the way was the final margin at 69-55 after a bucket by Johnson with less than a minute remaining.
Poole led Central Catholic with 21 points, while Lay Bertrand scored 15. Sydney Williams added four.
The future is bright for Central Catholic girls’ basketball as the team loses just one senior from this year’s squad in Taylor Picou. However, Brodie said losing Picou would be tough.
“It’s not just basketball,” Brodie said. “She was a team leader. She was like an older sister to all these girls, and we’re going to have to find somebody, whether it’s Sydney Williams, who will be a senior next year, or a younger girl to come in a really fill that role for us.”