¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ

By Ryan Schlehuber, ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ Sportswriter

Ìý

The ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ Centurions women’s basketball team fell to the Muskegon Community College Jayhawks, 82-53, Wednesday, Feb. 12.Ìý

Turnovers and allowing second-chance shots against the Jayhawks were two of the biggest factors in the loss for the Centurions, who have lost five consecutive games.ÌýÌý

¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ (2-7 ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵAA Northern, 3-15 overall) turned the ball over 29 times to the Jayhawks’ 10 times. Muskegon (8-1¶¶ÒõÊÓƵAA Northern, 18-4 overall) generated 39 points off those turnovers. It also outscored ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ in the second chance points category, 22-7.Ìý

The Jayhawks jumped out to an 8-0 lead to begin the game, however, ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ cut it to 12-8 after a three-point make by freshman guard Emily Putnam (Sidney, Mich.) with 3:32 to go in the first quarter.Ìý

From there, however, the Jayhawks went on a 17-2 run to finish out the quarter, taking a demanding 31-10 lead.Ìý

In the second quarter, the Centurions struggled offensively, shooting just 2-of-11 from the field and were unable to sink a three-point shot out of six tries. By halftime, ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ was down 49-17.Ìý

In the third quarter, Muskegon spread its scoring around with six players scoring. For ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ, Putnam and freshman forward Kennedy Schilling (Flushing, Mich.) each had a three-point bucket and a two-point score for the quarter, with Muskegon outscoring ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ 20-14 to lead 69-31 going into the fourth quarter.Ìý

The Centurions had their best scoring in the fourth quarter with sophomore guard Makenna Rautio (Big Rapids, Mich.) leading the way with 11 points followed by freshman center Maia Sexton (Sidney, Mich.), who came off the bench to score nine points.ÌýÌý

¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ outscored Muskegon 22-13 in the last quarter.Ìý

Rautio finished with 20 points and six rebounds while Sexton had a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Centurions. Putnam finished with 10 points and six rebounds.ÌýÌý

Overall shooting percentages were fairly even between the teams, with Muskegon shooting 41.7% (35-of-84) and ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ shooting 38.5% (20-of-52). Muskegon doubled up ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ at the three-point shooting mark, hitting 8-of-32 to ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ’s 4-of-21.Ìý

UP NEXT: The Centurions are hoping to get back into the win column with their next match-up being on the road Saturday, Feb. 15, against the Alpena Community College Lumberjacks (1-9 ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵAA Northern, 2-16 overall), which ¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ beat in their first meeting, a 50-35 win at home, Jan. 18. Tip-off time is 1 p.m.ÌýÌý

¶¶ÒõÊÓƵ is currently in seventh place in the division, two games behind fourth-place Delta College. With five games remaining, the Centurions still have a shot at making the postseason play.ÌýÌý