Centre Basketball: Chelsea Benham scores 20 as Centre women roll along, 84-67 over Trinity

There doesn’t seem to be much that can slow down the Centre College women these days, and playing games on back-to-back nights this weekend didn’t faze them at all.
The Colonels continued their march through the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference this weekend by  completing a sweep of the Western Division’s two co-leaders Saturday night.
They built a sizeable lead in the first half and kept Trinity (Texas) from mounting a charge in the second as they cruised to an 84-67 victory at Alumni Gymnasium.
“We prepare hard every week, and we know the game on the second day is usually really tough. But we just get it in our minds that we can do it, and we play hard and play together,” Centre guard Jane Goatley said.
Goatley went 5 for 6 from the field, including 4 for 5 from 3-point range, and was one of six Colonels to shoot at least 50 percent as Centre hit half or more of its shots for the second straight night.
Saturday’s game marked the third time this season that the Colonels have played on consecutive days, and in all three instances they have won both games.
And in this case, coach Wendie Austin-Robinson said they followed one really good performance with another.
“Last night we played the best we’ve played in a long time, and tonight I’m really proud of their effort,” Centre coach Wendie Austin-Robinson said. “Trinity is a really gritty little team, and I’m glad we got them at home.”
Centre (15-1, 9-0 SCAC) shot 55 percent in the first half and 50 percent overall to win its 12th straight game and extend its Eastern Division lead to 1 1/2 games over Millsaps, which plays today. The Colonels have not lost since Nov. 22, when they dropped a one-point overtime decision to Thomas More.
Chelsea Benham scored 20 points to lead the Colonels, hitting eight of 13 shots from the field, and Goatley finished with a career-high 15 points in 21 minutes off the bench.
Centre had 19 assists on its 32 baskets, most of which came from Maggie Prewitt, who followed her first career triple-double in the Colonels’ win over Southwestern on Friday with 11 points and 13 assists Saturday.
“When Maggie gets out and distributes the ball, we’re pretty good,” Austin-Robinson said. “Paige (Baechle) loves to run with her, and we’ve been very fortunate that Jane Goatley, Alyson Burke and Bridget Winstead have been shooting the ball extremely well the last few games.”
Those three combined to go 8 for 13 from 3-point range for Centre, which was 9 for 17 overall after going 8 for 13 against Southwestern.
A 3-point goal by Burke off a Trinity turnover gave Centre an 11-6 lead 3 minutes, 35 seconds into the game, and another Burke 3 on the Colonels’ next possession kicked off a run of nine unanswered points in 90 seconds that gave them a 20-8 advantage.
That was only the start of a 10 1/2-minute onslaught in which the Colonels outscored the Tigers 30-11. During that stretch, Centre went 12 for 20 from the field got seven points from Benham and six each from Prewitt, Baechle and Goatley and scored seven points off Trinity turnovers.
“We were playing good defense, and we do really well in offensive transition,”Ã?¿Goatley said.Ã?¿“We were getting in the right spots and hitting open shooters, and that worked well.”
When Lauren Huter put back her own missed shot to give the Colonels their largest lead at 41-19 with 5:05 remaining, they were shooting 55 percent (18 for 33) from the field.
They went 2 for 6 with five turnovers over the balance of the first half as Trinity closed the gap with nine straight points and outscored them 17-6 — going 9 for 9 at the free throw line — to pull within 47-36 at halftime.
The Colonels were colder in the second half, though not much, at 14 for 31 from the field. They opened by hitting four of their first six shots as they outscored Trinity 10-4 behind six points by Benham to take a 57-40 lead, and the Tigers never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Trinity (7-10, 5-3)�¿went 10 for 41 from the field in the second half and shot just 28 percent, and the Tigers were 3 for 20 from 3-point range.
“I thought we defended pretty good,” Austin-Robinson said.

CENTRE�¿84, TRINITY�¿(Texas) 67
TRINITY�¿(7-10)
Libby Kruse 1-6 4-4 6, Kelsey Daniel 1-2 1-2 3, Hannah Coley 4-15 3-4 12, Murphy Burns 4-23 5-6 13, Victoria Perko 1-1 0-2 2, Anne Waidelich 7-15 2-2 17, Alison Salmon 1-3 4-4 7, Jana Tucker 1-5 3-4 5, Taylor Hollins 0-1 0-0 0, Lauren Splawn 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Gulley 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-74 22-28 67.
CENTRE�¿(14-1)
Chelsea Benham 8-13 4-4 20, Lauren Huter 3-5 2-3 8, Alyson Burke 3-6 0-0 9, Bridget Winstead 1-2 0-0 3, Maggie Prewitt 4-16 2-2 11, Maggie Hartlage 0-1 0-0 0, Jane Goatley 5-6 1-2 15, Hillary Moore 1-1 0-0 2, Alexis Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Jenna Mire 0-1 0-0 0, Elizabeth Bressler 0-0 0-0 0, Mary Stough 0-1 0-0 0, Paige Baechle 7-12 2-2 16. Totals 32-64 11-13 84.
Halftime—Centre 47-36. 3-Point Goals—Trinity 3-20 (Coley 1-6, Burns 0-7, Waidelich 1-3, Salmon 1-2, Tucker 0-1, Splawn 0-1), Centre 9-17 (Burke 3-6, Winstead 1-2, Prewitt 1-2, Hartlage 0-1, Goatley 4-5, Mire 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Trinity 44 (Waidelich 8), Centre 46 (Huter 12). Assists—Trinity 8 (Burns, Hollins 2), Centre 19 (Prewitt 13). Total Fouls—Trinity 17, Centre 21. A—322.