Last Thursday night, the lady Hawks continued their dominance against McCluer North, beating them 71-43.

The recent run these ladies have been on is impressive. They’ve had some nail-biting games against tough competition, while blowing other teams out of the water. The Hawks have come together recently and have learned to play together as a team.

“Lately, we’ve been playing more as the team than as the individual”, said Nikayla Hill, 17, senior guard. “We need to continue to play like this because this is how good basketball is played.”

To start the season, Central was playing disappointing basketball, getting out to a slow 2-5 start. After beating Belleview West and East, the team lost 5 consecutive games, including a 31-point blowout to Edwardsville.

“At the beginning of the season we played a lot of tough teams, but that isn’t an excuse for our poor team basketball”, stated Kelsie Williams, 18, senior captain.

After that 5 game skid, the lady hawks were able to manage two wins before losing one more game. After the losing to Kirkwood 63-52, the hawks were determined to turn their season around before it was too late. So after that loss, they have gone on a hot streak, winning 9 games in a row and it looks like there is nothing slowing them down.

During this win streak, the Hawks have managed to beat their opponents by an average of 25.5 points per game. Also during this streak, the team is playing some really great defense. They only allowed 15 points against North Tech, and 17 points against Hazelwood East. Kelsie Williams has been a huge impact on the defensive side of the court too. Over the 9 game hot streak , she is averaging 2.8 blocks per game which is truly outstanding.

Kelsie Williams is the catalyst on defense and offense and she knows it.

“My team depends on me to do both(playing offense and defense), I feel like my defense jumps starts my offense so I make sure I’m always solid defensively.” said Williams.

“If we keep improving and stay focused, we will definitely be a contender in the final 4 of the class 5 girls basketball in the state of Missouri” said Kelsie Williams.

The Lady Hawks hope to continue their surge February 7th  against Parkway North to push the streak even further into double digits. The entire team hopes they can ride this win streak into districts and beyond.