7A/6A-EAST GIRLS

After clouds part, Central victorious

Central's Taylor Lewis (4) tries to outrun Cabot's Taylor Elliot (40) during the Cabot v. Central game held Tuesday night at Central High School.
Central's Taylor Lewis (4) tries to outrun Cabot's Taylor Elliot (40) during the Cabot v. Central game held Tuesday night at Central High School.

— Not even a weather delay could keep Little Rock Central’s girls from taking care of business Tuesday night.

Taylor Lewis scored all 17 of her points in the first half to help the No. 6 Lady Tigers hold off Cabot 51-41.

Jamie Ruffins scored 10 points for Central (15-4, 7-0), which remained undefeated in 7A/6A-East Conference play.

“A win is a win is a win, and we’ll take it,” Central Coach Michael Green said. “We didn’t play well at all. But I’d rather have an ugly win over a pretty loss any day.”

It was anything but pretty outside of Tiger Fieldhouse.

A strong line of storms entered the area Tuesday evening, which included golf ball-sized hail in certain places. There were also reports of tornadoes around the central Arkansas region, which prompted officials to stop the game near the end of the third quarter after tornado sirens began to sound outside.

Fans were quickly moved into the school’s cafeteria for approximately 45 minutes before play resumed.

Green said he wasn’t sure if the long wait would help orhurt his team once the game restarted.

Both teams were given a brief warm-up session before play resumed.

“I actually thought it might help [Cabot] to be honest with you,” Green said. “We weren’t playing that great, but I thought we had gotten into their legs a little.”

Central rode Lewis’ hot shooting and an aggressive attack on defense to take a 32-25 lead into halftime. The Lady Tigers led by 11 points in the third quarter and held a 40-31 advantage with 46 seconds left in the period when play was halted.

Cabot (12-5, 5-2), however, stormed back once the game restarted. Ally Vanenk hit a jumper just before the buzzer and Alyssa Hamilton scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to pull the Lady Panthers within three points.

But Chloe Washington’s free throw started a 9-0 rally for Central that essentially shut the door.

Hamilton led the Lady Panthers with 15 points. Elliot Taylor finished with 12.

Sports, Pages 22 on 01/30/2013

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