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ELC 54, Central Springs 25

Estherville Lincoln Central (54) - Macy Dahl 0 0-0 0; Sadie Winter 0 0-0 0; Ashley Weston 0 1-2 1; Sara Heywood 4 1-4 9; Emily Kirchner 0 1-2 1; Liz Humble 2 0-0 6; Casey Sievert 2 0-0 4; Kelsie McCauley 5 1-2 12; Allie Sievert 6 2-3 14; Alyssa Johnson 3 1-1 7.

Halftime score - ELC 25, Central Springs 14. 3-pointers - 3 (Humble 2, McCauley). Rebounds - 34 (Johnson 10). Assists - 13 (Heywood 4, McCauley 4). Steals - 19 (Heywood 4). Turnovers - 28. Total Fouls - 22. Fouled Out - McCauley. Technical Fouls - none.

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The Estherville Lincoln Central girls basketball showed its potential and its inexperience in the 2009 season opener-a 54-25 win over visiting Central Springs.

Led by senior Kelsie McCauley, the Midgettes starting lineup featured three freshmen along with sophomore post Alyssa Johnson.

Although ELC is young, Central Springs couldn't match up with the Midgettes' height.

"With most of these girls have just nine high-school practices before playing their first varsity game," we did alright," said ELC coach Brad Leonard.

ELC really broke open the game after halftime with a 22-3 third quarter including a 10-0 run to start the period. The visitors' Kaitlyn Bartel hit a 3-pointer around the 4-minute mark for the Panthers' lone points.

"Defensively, our position was good," said Leonard. "I thought we stayed together and made some athletic plays-things that you can't teach.

The young team may have had a few jitters to start the game as it opened with a flurry of turnovers by both sides.

Central Springs led at 2-0 and 4-2 with ELC freshman Sara Heywood ad Allie Sievert matching the visitors with their first varsity buckets.

Johnson gave ELC the lead for good though on a 3-point play. Heywood and Sievert each scored again to push the lead to 11-4. Senior Liz Humble came off the bench though and knocked down a 3-pointer to push ELC's advantage to 14-5 after one quarter of play.

Johnson scored to start the second quarter and Humble hit her second 3-pointer.

"Those shots by Liz were big at the time," said Leonard.

The Panthers, who kept full-court pressure on ELC's young guards throughout the game, managed to get the lead back to seven twice before the end of the half, but baskets by Heywood and Casey Sievert pushed the lead to 25-14.

The second half belonged to ELC. McCauley hit her first two shots to start the third period and scored six in the 10-0 run.

Allie Sievert then scored seven of ELC's final 12 points of the third period as ELC led 47-17 to start the fourth.

The scoring slowed for ELC, but the defense was solid as the Panthers didn't score until just over 2 minutes remaining in the game.

Allie Sievert led all scorers with 14 points while McCauley had 12 and Heywood had nine.

Johnson contributed seven points along with a team-high nine rebounds. With ELC having a height advantage, they out-rebounded the visitors 34-28.

ELC (1-0) travels to Manson this evening to take on preseason Class 2A No. 2 Manson Northwest Webster. The Cougars were 26-1 a year ago and the roster includes 6-1 senior Mika Rodwald, who averaged 18 points and seven rebounds in the 2008-09 season.