The Centenary women’s basketball team picked up a huge road win on Saturday afternoon as the Ladies defeated the Birmingham-Southern College Panthers, 89-82, at Bill Battle Coliseum.
The Ladies (2-6) snapped their six-game losing streak and won on the road for the first time since a 64-55 win at Dallas on Feb. 5, 2019. The Panthers fell to 4-4 with the loss. Saturday was the third all-time meeting between the Ladies and Panthers and first since 2017.
Birmingham-Southern began the game on an 8-0 run but a jumper by Powell tied the game at 12-12 with 4:28 remaining in the first quarter. A layup by Tremie with 1:16 remaining gave the Ladies their first lead of the game at 18-16. A trey by Powell with just seven seconds remaining in the first quarter gave the Ladies a 26-18 lead and then they maintained a safe lead throughout the second quarter.
Centenary took a 54-38 lead at halftime, shooting over 52 % in both the first and second quarter. The Ladies connected on 9-17 attempts in the first quarter (52.9%) and 11-21 in the second quarter (52.4 %). The Maroon and White were hot from beyond the arc early, making 4-5 attempts in the first 10 minutes and made 1-2 in the second quarter.
Junior Destini Powell, a product of Minden High School, poured in a career-high 33 points to lead the Ladies as she made 11-26 shot attempts overall in 39 minutes and was 3-8 from three-point range. Powell also made 8-11 from the free throw line and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds. The 33 points is the most scored by a Ladies player in a single game in the division III era (2012-present) and is tied for the third-most points in a single game in program history and is the most points scored by a Centenary player in 17 years. Penny Brill scored 33 on Feb. 16, 1984 and Laura Kizyte did so on Nov. 19, 2004.
Powell’s previous career high in points was 26 which she accomplished twice. She did so as a freshman on Feb. 8, 2020 at Texas Lutheran and last weekend at Ozarks in a 79-58 loss on Nov. 27. Saturday marked Powell’s first double-double of the season and the third time she has reached double figures.
Sophomore guard Addy Tremie (Sulphur) also had a fantastic game as she scored 20 in 37 minutes on 7-14 shooting. She was 3-5 from beyond the arc and 3-3 from the free throw line with 11 rebounds. She reached double figures for the fifth time this season and recorded her first double-double of the season.
Junior F Jazzmyn Jones (Normangee, Texas) joined Powell and Tremie in double figures as she added 14 in 23 minutes and grabbed six rebounds. She was 4-6 overall from the floor, made six free throws, and tallied one assist. Freshman G Dymon Drumgo (Alexandria, La.) scored six points in 26 minutes, making 3-8 shots overall and grabbed six rebounds. Drumgo added two steals and one assist.
Junior F Amelia Bagwell (West Monroe), freshman G Mary Leday (Opelousas), senior G Jennae Mayberry (Clovis, California), and freshman F Katelyn Simon (Lafayette) each scored four points. Bagwell played just 12 minutes but grabbed eight rebounds on 2-5 shooting overall. She had a pair of assists and a steal.
Leday added three rebounds and two assists along with her four points in 22 minutes on 2-5 shooting. Mayberry played 34 minutes and collected eight rebounds with two assists and two steals. Simon played six minutes and was 2-2 overall and grabbed one rebound.
The Ladies shot 45.2% for the game, their best shooting percentage in a game this season, and went 6-13 (46.2%) from beyond the arc. Centenary’s only offensive struggles came at the free throw line where the Maroon and White went just 17-27.
Centenary had a massive advantage on the boards, grabbing a season-high 64 to just 44 for the Panthers. Six Ladies grabbed at least six rebounds with 42 coming on the defensive end and 22 on the offensive end. The Ladies finished with a 38-34 edge in points in the paint and each team wound up with 17 second-chance points. Birmingham-Southern scored 19 fast break points while the Ladies had only two. The Panthers’ bench contributed 37 points while the Ladies’ reserves scored 14.
Birmingham-Southern struggled offensively, shooting just 32.1% overall from the floor and were woeful from 3-point range, making just 9-51 attempts for 17.6%. The Panthers were 19-27 from the free throw line and turned the ball over 21 times while Centenary gave it away 33 times.
McKenna Buckner scored 21 points to lead the Panthers and was the lone BSC player to score in double digits. Seven Panthers scored at least five points and Brooke Westhoelter grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Panthers.
The Panthers outscored the Ladies 24-20 in the third quarter to cut Centenary’s advantage to 74-62 entering the final 10 minutes. A trey by Buckner got the Panthers within four, 79-75, at the 2:39 mark, but the Ladies responded with six straight points.
Powell hit four free throws and Leday made a layup. The Ladies were solid at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, making six of nine. Powell was clutch at the line in the final quarter, sinking six of seven attempts.
