Coming up big

CELINA - After facing two state-ranked girls' basketball teams over the previous four days, Celina was looking for a turnaround in its third game in five days against Lima Central Catholic.

Bulldogs coach Brandon Steinke admitted it was not the prettiest game, but it was a victory as the Bulldogs held off the Thunderbirds over the final two minutes to take a 39-34 win at the Fieldhouse on Monday night.

The win snaps the Bulldogs' six-game losing streak to improve to 2-13.

"That was my big concern, facing three straight good teams in a row and seeing how they'd respond," Steinke said. "We came out ready to go."

Celina jumped out to an early lead thanks to the hot shooting of Makenna Klingshirn, who made her first four shots and contributed the first eight Bulldog points. Celina led 10-6 after the first quarter and worked to keep the momentum going as Lauren Jackson and Emily Braun knocked down key shots to help Celina go up 18-8 with 2:52 left in the first half. The Thunderbirds tried to counter by forcing Celina into fouling. LCC was in the double-bonus for much of the latter half of the second quarter. The only thing that kept Celina from losing the lead was the Thunderbirds' missing more free throws than making them, going 6-of-16 in the first half as Celina held a 21-12 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs tried to expand the lead at the start of the third quarter, but LCC began to whittle away at the deficit as Steinke had to rotate his lineup heavily when players picked up fouls. The Thunderbirds got to within four at 24-20 after four straight points from Mary Kelly Mulcahy. Each team made a free throw to allow Celina to take a 25-21 lead into the fourth quarter.

Rosie Williams got the Thunderbirds within a bucket at 25-23 with a basket seconds into the final stanza, but Celina countered as Lauren Jackson had back-to-back layups to push the lead up to six as the Bulldogs' pressure forced LCC into turnovers.

"Felt good to turn teams over as much as teams have turned us over," said Steinke, noting that LCC had 16 turnovers compared to Celina's nine. "When we're not shooting well (Celina was just 13-of-50 from the floor), easy buckets are what we need."

Jackson added another free throw with 65 seconds left to raise the lead to 38-34, but Hannah Garver knocked down a three-pointer with 43.5 seconds left to get LCC to within four at 38-34. After a timeout, Jackson hit another free throw to raise the lead to five. Celina's defense kept LCC from getting open shots before the final buzzer.

"We'll take any win any time, good or bad," Steinke said.

Jackson finished with 16 points. Klingshirn added 10 but made just one of her final nine shots of the game after having started 4-for-4.

Williams was 10-of-14 from the foul line en route to an 18-point, 13-rebound night for LCC (2-16).

Celina is back in action Thursday when Defiance travels to the Fieldhouse for a WBL contest.