RAVENNA – With nearly seven minutes to go in the first half, Class D-1 No. 4 Ravenna (Omaha World-Herald) held a 9-7 lead over D-1, No. 3 Centura, and the game was playing out how many anticipated it would.
Then Ravenna’s Tori Sklenar went on an 11-0 run by herself, drilling three 3-pointers and a layup. Ravenna ended the half on a 21-6 run and took a 30-13 lead into halftime.
The Bluejays stayed aggressive in the third and despite some sloppy play by both sides, ended the third stanza with a 40-18 lead.
Centura did all they could to climb back into it but in the end the Centurions didn’t have enough time as Ravenna defended their home court on Friday night with a 53-40 win.
“Tori hit some big shots but honestly, what set the tone for us most of the night, especially the first three quarters, was our defense,” Ravenna coach Noah Maulsby said. “I thought we played pretty good defense. I thought we did a good job on (Sydney) Davis, especially the first three quarters and making her work for stuff. Not giving her easy baskets inside.”
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Sklenar ended the game with five 3-pointers and a team high 21 points, two points better than her area leading average of 19.1 points per game.
Centura coach Laethion Brown said her scoring ability from all areas makes her a tough cover.
“They do a really good job of playing as physical as possible between the rules,” Brown said. “They do that dribble handoff with the (Aspyn) Wick girl a lot. She’ll reverse seal and grab ahold. I would call it a moving screen. We needed to switch that, and we didn’t, so she was able to get to the rack and of course she can shoot the perimeter shot. She’s a dang good basketball player. You know she’s going to score 18-plus on you if she gets her feet set at all.”
Davis, who is second in the area at 16.9 ppg, picked up two fouls with 5:41 left in the firstt quarter and headed to the bench.
Despite starting the second quarter, Davis never fully got into rhythm while dealing with the foul trouble, and playing without their leader affected her teammates.
“She gets the two quick fouls, and we have to pull her,” Brown said. “There’s different coaching philosophies on that. Do I keep her out there? You don’t because if you get three in the first, then you’re really screwed. That changes the way we bring the ball up the floor. It changes who I put in the post. It changes our attacking ability and rebounding. Everything.
“I’m OK with a defensive foul and being physical. The stupid one where we’re going over somebody’s back that they called, she might not have been out of illegal position, but it just looks horrible from the ref’s position. You can’t do that.”
Davis ended her night with nine points. Kailey Coghlan led the Centurions (15-2) with 10 points.
Centura shot 4-of-28 from beyond the arc and was out rebounded by 10 rebounds. Ravenna, meanwhile, had 29 turnovers compared to 19 by the Centurions.
Being in the same conference and sub-district Ravenna (17-1) and Centura will likely see each other two or three more times and with their records, it’s not inconceivable that they could meet in March in Lincoln.
Maulsby said the two schools are very familiar with each other, and it will likely be a game of adjustments going forward.
“I’m guessing we’re going to see a press the way we handled it in the fourth quarter for a while,” he said. “We already play each other a lot, so there will be adjustments. I’m sure they’ll do stuff, and we’ll do stuff matchups wise and things like that. It was a fun atmosphere and a fun game. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to see them again a couple more times.”
Ravenna 53, Centura 40
Centura; 3; 6; 5; 22-40
Ravenna; 7; 23; 10; 13-53
CENTURA
Kailey Coghlan 3-17 1-1 10, Kyra Wooden 2-8 1-2 5, Taya Christensen 2-11 0-0 4, Sydney Davis 4-9 1-2 9, Paige Crawford 3-5 0-0 6, Ella Rasmussen 0-0 1-2 1,Katie Hadenfeldt 1-4 0-0 3, Lakota Chilewski 1-1 0-0 2.
RAVENNA
Tori Sklenar 6-12 4-4 21, Aspyn Wick 4-7 0-1 8,Morgyn Fiddelke 1-3 5-10 7, Kennedy Hurt 2-9 5-6 10, Sarah McKeon 3-5 1-2 7.
Boys
Centura 41, Ravenna 40
The Centura boys snuck one out of Ravenna.
After leading 26-12 with two minutes left in the first half, Ravenna stomped back to tie it at 30-all near the end of the third quarter, and it was a fist fight the rest of the way.
Trailing 41-40 with 10 seconds to go, Ravenna put the ball in senior leader and point guard Zach Lewandowski’s hands. Lewandowski pulled from deep and misfired, giving Centura the ball. The Centurions were able to hold on to the rebound and after a scramble drill, they ran out the clock and won by the one-point margin.
“I think offensively and defensively, we played very well together in the first half,” Centura boys coach Troy Bland said. “I think in the second half, what let us get it close again is offensively, we were forcing shots a little bit and defensively, we took our foot off of the gas. I feel like we didn’t have the same intensity, and we let them back into the game. There was some dicey play there at the end, but we have tough kids and scrappy kids and they were able to scrap one out at the end, Really proud of them.”
Kellen Fries led Centura (6-10) with 14 points.
Lewandowski ended his night with 21 points to lead Ravenna (9-8). Bluejay coach James Habe said he’s comfortable living with the results if Lewandowski is taking the shot.
“We wanted to get the ball in his hands,” Habe said. “He had a few options coming off the on-ball screen. At the end of the day, he’s a kid I’m going to live with shooting the ball. Make or miss, we want the ball in his hands.”
Centura 41, Ravenna 40
Centura; 12; 13; 7; 9-41
Ravenna; 8; 4; 18; 10-40
CENTURA
Weston Kroeger 1-2 0-0 2, Jakob Ruhl 3-6 2-2 10, Kellen Fries 5-8 0-0 14, Bosten Caspersen 0-4 2-4 2, Carter Noakes 2-3 0-0 5, Keaton Lemburg 1-1 0-0 2, Jason Fanta 2-6 2-3 6.
RAVENNA
Gavin Reisbeck 1-3 1-2 3, Zach Lewandowski 6-15 1-3 17, Angel Cruz 2-3 0-1 5, Kaden Brodersen 4-6 3-7 11, Gavin Standage 2-4 0-0 4.