By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

DALLAS, Ore.– Central’s looking like they are about to hit their stride following their 49-30 victory over Dallas Thursday night.

Their defense limited the Dragons to eight points in the opening 13 minutes of the contest with their offense translating opportunities into points.  The Panthers led at this point 22-8 three minutes left in the half.

“It’s really nice, you can tell we’re starting to get our rhythm together, especially on defense.  We’re a really good defensive team and really strong defensively and you can see that we’re letting that go into our offense.  So, we’re starting to get the pieces together,” Central’s Sadie Wendring said. 

Facing a defense like that is challenging for sure.  It’s helpful in learning as Dallas has started the season 3-3 with the Cascade Tournament coming up on the horizon on Tuesday afternoon. 

Working on staying calm in the moment and working through their offensive sets and plays during the game.

“For starters we get flustered easily.  So we got to calm down on that and work more together out there,” the Dragons Katie Buchholz said.  “But I’m thinking that we’re getting much better as a team.  We’re working a lot better together.  (Practice) is going to help a lot now we know what to work on because Central’s a pretty good team.

“Offense…just working on our plays and stuff.  Not forcing passes.”

Central’s lead touched 20-points on a few occasions as they snapped their three-game skid for their second win of the season.  The Dragons however, made sure it didn’t go beyond that with the Panthers traveling to Hillsboro Saturday and to Bend for the Summit Holiday Tournament on Tuesday.

“I think the biggest part of this game was our defense.  We were really intense on defense and that led into our offense.  We came out jumping on the passes, getting rebounds and I think that really made the difference,” said Wendring. “Just keep working hard in practice and keep bringing the intensity into games.”

Wendring finished with 24 points for Central and Mariah Moore added another seven points.  Buchholz finished with eight points; Brook Dunkin contributed another seven points for the Dragons.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald