Ankeny Centennial’s Kennedy White racked up a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds during the first half of Tuesday’s non-conference girls’ basketball game at Des Moines East.
White finished with 13 points, outscoring the Scarlets all by herself in fourth-ranked Centennial’s 82-8 victory. Five of her teammates also outscored the entire East squad.
“We were pretty business-like,” said Centennial coach Scott DeJong, whose team allowed fewer than 20 points for the fourth time in the last six games. “We did what we had to do. A lot of people got to play, and a lot of people got to score. That’s good.”
Centennial jumped out to a 25-2 lead in the first quarter and held a 52-5 advantage at halftime. The Jaguars (13-2) cruised to their seventh straight win.
East (1-16) suffered its ninth consecutive loss. The Scarlets have scored a total of just 58 points in their last five games.
Centennial has never lost to East, but did need a late rally to beat the Scarlets in overtime four years ago.
“We’ve had some real battles over the decades at East,” DeJong said. “They were the state champions there for a few years. They’ve had some really good players and some really good teams. But not this year.”
Cleao Murray scored all 12 of her points in the first half. Averi Porter, Jaeden Pratt, Tillie Smith and Elle Street each added nine points.
Ava Martin chipped in seven points, and Finley Blackmore added six.
“The minutes were obviously balanced, and so was our scoring,” said DeJong, whose team shot 58.5 percent from the field (31-of-53) and 46.7 percent from 3-point range (7-of-15).
Makenna Clark sparked the Jaguars at both ends of the floor. She dished out six assists and had 10 of the team’s 24 steals.
Centennial will play another struggling opponent on Friday. The Jaguars will travel to Marshalltown for a CIML Iowa Conference game against the Bobcats (1-16).
