By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Assistant Athletic Director/Communications
The Gents basketball team won its third straight game Tuesday night in the Gold Dome, news which would ordinarily be solo atop the weekly Centenary notebook.
But a milestone event is ahead Sunday when the year-old STUNT team stages its first-ever home competition. Ladies gymnastics is in the Gold Dome Friday. Gents lacrosse is at home Saturday. Plus, baseball and softball seasons start, although both teams are on the road. And there’s more….
STUNT: Centenary will welcome Muskingum and McNeese to the Gold Dome on Sunday when the Ladies make their home debut as a program with the matches set for 10 a.m. and 1 o’clock.
The Ladies opened their season in the McNeese Tournament last Sunday with three matches against the host Cowgirls, Texas Woman’s University and Texas A&M-Kingsville in Lake Charles.
In game one, Centenary faced off in an 8-round game versus Division 1 McNeese. While the Ladies were unable to score on the hosts, the team set new program firsts by playing the entirety of the third quarter and fourth quarter jumps and tumbling, a place where the Ladies had to give away several automatic points last season.
In game two, the Ladies saw a familiar face in Division II opponent Texas Woman’s. During the 8-round game, the Ladies only took the floor five of the eight sections due to routines being called by the Pioneers that were above playable routines for the team.
To round out the day, Centenary played its final matchup versus Texas A&M Kingsville and were able to place their first season points on the board by going within two for pyramids and tosses two and within two for quarter four pyramids and tosses two.
MATCH ONE SCORE: 12-0 loss to McNeese
MATCH TWO SCORE: 11-0 loss to TWU
MATCH THREE SCORE: 13-3 loss to Kingsville
LACROSSE: The Gents (1-0) opened their season with a dominating 27-10 victory over the LaGrange College Panthers in a non-conference contest at a frigid Atkins Field on Saturday. Below freezing temps could not stop the red-hot Centenary offense which tied its program record for goals in a game.
Sophomore Noah Walsh made an immediate impact in his Gents’ debut on Saturday. He scored a whopping eight goals and tallied seven assists, both of which led the team, and set a single-game program record for points with 15.
The Gents took a 16-4 halftime lead and cruised to the victory. Walsh, a transfer from Anderson University, scored two goals in the first quarter, three in the second, two in the third, and one in the fourth.
Centenary returns to action on Saturday at home against Hendrix College at 3 o’clock in 70-degree weather.
GYMNASTICS: The Ladies welcome Greenville University to town on Friday evening for their home opener set for 5 o’clock inside the Gold Dome.
Centenary is back in action for the first time since it recorded a second-place finish against Illinois State in Normal, Ill. on Jan. 18. The Ladies finished with a 185.575 team score with their best event score a 47.375 on floor, followed by a season-high 46.950 on vault, a 45.775 on beam, and a season-best 45.475 on bars.
BASKETBALL: The Ladies and Gents wrapped up season-long homestands on Tuesday versus Texas Lutheran in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play in the Gold Dome. The games occurred 10 days later than expected after they were postponed and rescheduled due to winter weather.
The streaking Gents (7-12, 5-5 SCAC) won 67-64 for their third straight victory before the Ladies (3-16, 2-8 SCAC) fell 75-46 to the Bulldogs
Freshman guard Jaden Braden, a former Natchitoches Central star, led all scorers with 23 points and added a game-high six assists. The rookie has now reached double figures 14 times this season, in seven straight games and in nine of his last 10. He notched his third 20+-point performance on Tuesday.
Senior guard Amiyah Barrow led the Ladies with nine points on Tuesday, just missing her 10th double-digit scoring performance of the season.
The Ladies and Gents play a pair of league contests at Hendrix College on Friday and the University of the Ozarks on Saturday.
BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL: The Diamond Gents begin their season this weekend in California while the Ladies will begin theirs in Jackson, Miss. with a non-conference doubleheader against Millsaps College.
The baseball squad will face Occidental College in Los Angeles on Friday in the opener of a three-game series and then visit the Whittier College Poets, where Richard Nixon went to college, on Sunday.
The Diamond Gents are scheduled to play 39 regular-season games – 30 SCAC contests and nine non-conference games. The Ladies have a 38-game schedule with eight non-conference outings.
Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu
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