Hughesville knew the margins were going to be small in a battle of teams that were a combined 21-1 on the year as they welcomed undefeated Central Columbia to town. Hughesville hung with the Blue Jays, but turnovers doomed them to a 48-42 loss, just their second loss of the year and first loss since late November.

“Their defense is good. Hats off to them. They speed you up. We talked about turnovers all week. Tonight, we were a little tight coming into the game and turned the ball over a little too much in the first quarter. In the second quarter, I thought we settled in a little better. In the third quarter, just too many turnovers. So, two quarters I thought we did okay, and two quarters we didn’t,” Hughesville coach Dustin King said.

Those early turnovers were costly as Central Columbia sophomore guard and Division I recruit Quinlan Blake started the game off ice-cold from the field. But, Hughesville was simply unable to capitalize on Central’s slow start in the halfcourt offense in the first quarter. The Spartans got out to a 7-2 lead in the first three minutes behind five quick points from Allyssa King. But, The Blue Jays were able to get going in transition off of Hughesville turnovers and lead 12-9 after a quarter.

When the Spartans did cut down on turnovers for stretches, good things happened. With Central still cold from the floor due to fantastic team defense by Hughesville, and the Spartans taking care of the ball, they started to dominate in the paint on the other end. Vivian Draper scored six straight Spartan points to tie the game up at fifteen midway through the quarter. An Anna Easton basket put them in front at 19-18, and Maddie Smith nailed two foul shots just seconds before the halftime buzzer at Hughesville went into halftime with a three-point lead at 21-18.

“(Draper’s) been playing the lights out. She’s aggressive and her hands are just fabulous. She sucks up everything. She shows the same thing in practice. She does some stuff that kind of makes you tilt your head. She just has great coordination, great balance, and good hands. She plays tough. The kid just goes all out all the time,” King said.

But, turnovers and a lack of rhythm offensively once again harmed Hughesville in the third quarter. And, unlike the early stages of the game, Central Columbia made them pay in a big way. A Blake triple put them up three two minutes into the frame, and Abby Welkom three a few minutes later put them up five. By the time Blake hit another three and Kayla Poust scored twice in the paint in the final seventy-five seconds of the quarter, Hughesville had dug themselves an 11-point hole heading to the fourth quarter.

The Spartans tried to get back in the game, and cut the lead to seven with 5:33 left after a Maddie Smith putback after trailing by fourteen in the early stages of the final quarter. But, a golden chance to cut the lead to six went by the wayside when Hughesville missed two layups on the ensuing possession. Blake, who scored 11 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter, answered with a layup to put the Blue Jays back up double digits and put them firmly in control.

While it’s never great to lose, the Spartans plan to get a lot out of playing against District 4’s lone remaining undefeated team. The quickness that Central Columbia has throughout the rotation is something they hadn’t seen since their season-opening one-point loss to Dallas back in late November.

“We talked about it. We knew it coming in. Everybody knows how they play. You can prepare for it as much as you want, but you don’t know until you get in that situation. So I thought them seeing (Central’s quickness) this early on was great. Maybe we will see them again (in the PHAC Tournament).”

Central Columbia 48, Hughesville 42

Central Columbia 12 6 18 12 – 48

Hughesville 9 12 6 15 – 42

Central Columbia (48)

Jada Tucker 1 0-0 2, Jude Flick 4 0-0 8, Quinlan Blake 9 3-6 24, Abby Welkom 1 0-0 3, Kayla Poust 3 1-2 7, Lily Huber 1 2-3 4, Grace Prezioso 0 0-0 0 Totals: 19 6-11-48

Hughesville (42)

Vivian Draper 6 1-5 13, Anna Easton 3 1-4 7, Allyssa King 4 1-1 10, Kendall Hamm 0 2-2 2, Maddie Smith 2 4-4 8, Kylie Temple 0 0-0 0, Casey Schultz 0-0 0, Tori Morgan 0 0-0 0 Totals 16 8-16 -42

Three-Pointers

Central Columbia: 4 (Blake 3, Welkom)

Hughesville: 1 (King)