Burlington Central overwhelms Richmond-Burton

The Burlington Central girls basketball team wanted to start the new year on a high note.

Coming off a 2-2 Charger Classic at Dundee-Crown against bigger schools, Central certainly began the year well Friday night.

Central dominated Richmond-Burton from the start and cruised to a 51-28 Big Northern East victory.

“We played such good competition so when we got out into this kind of game we were ready,” said Central sophomore Samantha Pryor, who finished with a game-high 19 points.

Central (12-2, 2-0) ran out to a 15-4 lead, scoring 11 points off Richmond-Burton turnovers. Samantha Cruz had 3 steals and Pryor had two in the opening quarter as R-B had 8 turnovers.

“I thought the first half Cruz, Pryor a little bit, and (Kayla) Ross created havoc in the backcourt,” Central coach Mark Smith said. “They did a great job.”

Pryor scored 9 points in the first quarter as Central took a 20-7 lead. The lead was 12, 29-17, at halftime.

Central again took advantage of R-B turnovers in the third quarter. Shelby Holt and Pryor hit back-to-back 3-pointers off turnovers as Central took a 40-20 lead.

The lead was a large as 26, 49-23, in the fourth quarter.

Holt finished with 9 points. Pryor added 6 rebounds.

Hannah Koenig led R-B with 9 points and 6 rebounds.