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Miller led Central powers past Methuen

Friday, January, 22 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE — Playing without the area’s player of the decade certainly isn’t something Central Catholic coach Sue Downer wants to do very often. But it’s also a comfort to know that her defending state champion Raiders can hold their own without Katie Zenevitch.

Forced to play without its leading score for most of the first half, top-ranked Central held off a tough Methuen challenge before running away from the Rangers with a 76-50 victory last night. The victory was the 22nd in 23 outings for Central and 29th in 31 games since the middle of last season.

With Zenevitch’s court time limited to only 4 minutes in the opening half with foul trouble, Melissa Miller picked up the slack with a team-high 20 points. The junior was one of four Raiders in double figures.

“Obviously we’re a different team when she’s in the game,” Downer said of Zenevitch, who will play at Boston College next season. “When she’s not in the game, our whole game changes. But we had kids step up. And I think Alex Borrelli (who stepped in for Zenevitch) did a great job. She stepped up for us, scored (eight points), and I thought she played a great game.”

But the Rangers managed to throw a little scare into Central as Boston University-bound Rashidat Agboola scored 18 of her game-high 29 points in the first two periods. Agboola riddled the Raiders’ zone defense, converting seven of her 10 field-goal attempts. The effort kept Methuen (7-5) within six points entering intermission.

“We just needed to come out and dominate in the second half,” Miller said. “The first half, we didn’t play bad, but we needed to come out and get at it. We weren’t over confident. We just came out flat.”

The Raiders (12-1) altered their defense which not only limited Methuen to 9-of-33 shooting in the second half, but also ignited their cutting offense.

“We came out in the second half with some full-court pressure and dropping into man (defense),” Central Catholic coach Sue Downer said. “We did a better job rebounding in the second half. That was a huge focus for us.”

Zenevitch moved to the wing after intermission, opening up the lane for teammates blowing to the basket. The 6-foot-3 senior had six assists in the second half while also scoring 10 of her 15 points. The Raiders had assists on 13 of their 20 field goals the final two periods. Central used a 15-4 third quarter run to open a 51-36 lead with 3:25 left. In the fourth, Central broke down the Methuen press with a 16-4 spurt. In addition, the Raiders had no turnovers the first 16 minutes after the break.

“We like to run,” Downer said. “One of our attributes is we’re athletic, and I think that tempo is very good for us. We’re smart, and Gabie (Polce), our point guard, is smart with the basketball. It’s interesting when people full-court pressure us. We eat that up.”