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Wells hits for 26 as Burlington Central downs Marengo

Friday's first half was the Elana Wells show.

Burlington Central's freshman guard scored 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting, to lead the Rockets to a 36-18 advantage against Marengo.

The Indians slowed Wells and the Rockets somewhat in the second half, but Central's lead was too big and the Rockets held on for a 50-39 win in Kishwaukee River Conference girls basketball action on Rocket Hill.

Wells finished with 26 points, making 10 of 13 shots including all six 3-point attempts

Kathryn Schmidt scored 17 points for Central (8-0, 3-0).

Marengo also came in undefeated in the conference after knocking off Johnsburg last week, but the Indians couldn't match the Rockets' fast pace in the initial 16 minutes.

Wells and Schmidt accounted for all the points as the Rockets grabbed a 21-12 lead after one quarter. Central closed the half on a 12-2 run. The Rockets shot a blistering 65 percent in that first half.

After the break, the Indians applied some fierce full-court pressure to keep the Rockets off balance.

After Wells opened the second half with a 3-pointer, the Indians went on a 12-2 run to cut it to 41-30. Jordan Parker scored 6 straight points to start the run, the last 4 coming off steals set up by the Indians' pressure. But Marengo couldn't get much closer.

The Indians cut it to 49-39 with 5:31 left, but that was as close as they got. In fact, neither team scored again until Schmidt buried a free throw with less than a minute left.

Central coach Mark Smith was glad his team got to face that kind of pressure early in the season.

"We knew they were going to come at us pretty hard," he said. "The pressure hurt us a little bit. Those are good games to play. That's what the playoff games are going to be like. There are no easy games, and as we start playing games like that we grow up and we start playing a little bit better."

Mackenzie West grabbed 7 boards as the Rockets outrebounded the visitors, 23-16.

Marissa Knobloch led Marengo with 9 points. Parker and Jennifer Heinberg finished with 8 apiece for the Indians.

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