Girls basketball: Lancers lose to Hamilton

Unbeaten Sussex Hamilton handed Brookfield Central a 41-38 defeat Friday at Hamilton. The Lancers had a fourth-quarter rally that was too little, too late.

The win left the Chargers at 6-0 in first place in the Greater Metro Conference, 10-0 overall. Central stayed in fourth place with a 3-3 record, 6-6 overall. The three conference losses are more than the four-time defending champion Central has had in the last three years total (13-1, 13-1, 14-0).

Central trailed 35-23 after three periods before the Lancers went on a 16-6 run in the fourth quarter to make the game respectable.

"The positive thing is when we were down by 12, 13 we fought back very well," Central coach Dan Wandrey said. "We made it very managable. We handled the end of the game very well.

"We put some pressure on, got some steals. We were able to guard them. Now the question is, 'Where was that for the first half.' "

Hamilton had led 10-8 after one quarter, but then the Chargers outscored Central, 25-14, in the second and third periods. The Lancers trailed 23-15 at intermission. Wandrey pointed out that Central couldn't stop the Chargers from scoring in the final seconds of the first half and right before halftime, a four-point swing.

Junior Debbie Entzminger scored a basket with eight seconds left to play, but the Lancers had no time outs left. Wandrey pointed out that his team twice had a chance to cut into the lead, but two crucial turnovers cost them in the final minute.

Central senior Anna Liewen scored 14 points, which included 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. Entzminger had seven points and Lydia Rohde had six, coming on two 3-pointers. Chargers' 6-foot sophomore Mackenzie Latt had 17 points and Jenny Shernell added 12.

The Lancers were only 9-of-16 from the free-throw line (.563) while Hamilton was 9-of-12 (.750).