Century Still Unbeaten in League

April may be the cruelest month, but Century High’s Aprile Powell has been making January pretty miserable for the rest of the girls’ basketball teams in the Empire League.

Powell scored 21 points to lead host Century to a 44-34 victory over El Dorado in a game that featured the top two teams in the league race.

The victory gave the Centurions, 17-2 and 5-0 in league, sole possession of first place in league after the first round of league play. The Hawks dropped to 15-5, 4-1.

Powell, a 6-foot-2 freshman forward, is the main reason for the Centurions’ success this season. But Powell, who averages nearly 18 points and 11 rebounds, had a major case of freshman jitters before the tip-off.

“I was really nervous. When we were in [the locker room] talking, I was in there praying to win,” she said.

El Dorado, the defending league champion, took a 7-4 lead with three minutes 39 seconds remaining in the first quarter after Century made only two of its first six field-goal attempts.

“I was worried about El Dorado having [more] experience. We started off missing our first three or four shots and I thought, ‘uh-oh,’ ” said Coach Jeff Watts.

But Century settled down after that, outscoring El Dorado, 14-4, over the next 6:21 to take an 18-11 lead in the second quarter. Heather Cunningham and Beau Bryant each had layups for El Dorado to close to within three points, 18-15, with 4:49 to play in the half.

But Powell made sure that was as close as the Hawks came--she made two layups and ended the half with a three-point basket to lead the Centurions on a 7-2 run and a 25-17 halftime lead.

Century outscored El Dorado, 11-6, in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

In other Empire League games:

Katella 53, Loara 47--Loara protested the game after the Saxon cheerleaders were called for a free-throw violation for not moving from underneath the basket during a foul shot. Loara Coach Vicki Mallett said the cheerleaders were told to move and they did before the shot. Loara will take up the matter with the Southern Section today.

Cypress 51, Kennedy 43--Stacy Silva had 17 points and 26 rebounds and freshman Lyndsay Weaver added 13 points and three three-pointers for visiting Cypress (9-11, 1-4), which led, 33-18, at halftime.