Central’s Mary Rohde attempts a layup past Oak Glen’s Emma Everett. - Andrew Grimm

Oak Glen hit four of their six 3s in the first quarter to spark the offense and pulled away from visiting Catholic Central for a 72-47 victory at home.

“We put a heavy focus on shooting,” Oak Glen head coach Ryan Wells said. “We tell them defense and shooting, in that order. We’ve told the girls if they knock down shots, they’re going to be a hard team for anyone to beat.

“The offense really clicked tonight, we have been focusing on our half-court offense and being patient and it really clicked for the girls tonight.”

Whenever it seemed the Crusaders (2-2) would start to climb back into it, Oak Glen continued to have the answers the other way and all Central could do was try to keep up.

SHOOTING — Oak Glen’s Keira Vick goes up for a shot past Catholic Central’s Mary Fink during Monday’s game. - Andrew Grimm

“I liked the way we came out of the gate, we were in our groove, but (Oak Glen) came down the other way and hit a couple of shots and got some confidence and it seemed from that point on they couldn’t miss,” Central head coach Rocky Bragg said. “From there we started getting caught flat-footed because our girls were just trying to figure out how to stop the bleeding.

“Give Oak Glen credit, they were shooting hot. When they built that lead, our goal was to get things under control and start chipping away — I felt like we got things under control where we would start to play even with them, but they would hit a shot the other way every time we started to chip away and they were just lights out tonight. Every once in a while you just run into a team shooting like that.”

The Golden Bears (2-0), though they did not use their press, created 18 turnovers and hung tough in the paint against a Central team that had a size advantage, as the rebounds were just 27-24.

“I’m proud of the girls because we didn’t even press for a second tonight, they were able to generate off of good defense and good looks,” Wells said. “We’re an undersized team, but we’re fast and we preach tips. If we can get tips and they turn into live ball turnovers, that benefits us.”

It was a balanced attack that led the Bears as four players reached double figures and another came close. Mikalyn Balch, Haylee Stewart and Ella Stewart each netted 15, while Emma Everett tallied 10 and Kiera Vick came off the bench to tally eight.

Oak Glen’s Mikalyn Balch pulls up to take a jumper against Catholic Central. - Andrew Grimm

Balch had a game-high five assists to go with two steals, while Haylee Stewart and Everett tied for the team lead with five rebounds each.

“It’s a very unselfish team,” Wells said. “They’ve been playing together since third or fourth grade, they don’t care who scores they just want the end result to be a win and that makes it fun with a team like that.”

After trailing 7-2 early, the Bears opened up a 26-15 lead after one and pushed the margin to 44-22 at halftime.

For Central, Mary Rohde led the way with a double-double, netting 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Mara Delaney tallied a game-high 16 points and had three steals.

“We’re looking for a spark, something to get us going,” Bragg said. “We’re going to have a good day of practice and clean some things up and be ready for the next one.”

UP NEXT

Catholic Central: Will look for a momentum builder when it hosts Madonna in a rivalry game on Wednesday night.

Oak Glen: Is back at home Thursday to host Linsly.

Oak Glen 72, Catholic Central 47

CC 15-7-14-11 — 72

OG 26-18-15-15 — 47

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (2-2): Hoover 1 0-0 3; Dankert 0 0-2 0; Delaney 6 1-4 16; Balabin 0 0-0 0; Rohde 4 6-8 14; Bolster 0 0-0 0; Garcia 3 0-0 8; Rigaud 1 0-0 2; Fink 0 0-0 0; Lathem 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 17, 7-14; 47.

OAK GLEN (2-0): Everett 4 0-0 10; Balch 7 1-2 15; Wells 0 0-0 0; H. Stewart 7 1-2 15; E. Stewart 6 0-0 15; Polly 1 2-5 5; Vick 4 0-0 8; May 0 0-0 0; Price 0 0-0 0; Mascio 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 31, 4-9; 72.

3_POINTERS: Catholic Central 5 (Delaney 3, Garcia 2); Oak Glen 6 (E. Stewart 3, Everett 2, Polly). ASSISTS: Catholic Central 9 (Hoover 3); Oak Glen 17 (Balch 5). REBOUNDS: Catholic Central 27 (Rohde 10); Oak Glen 24 (Everett 5, H. Stewart 5). STEALS: Catholic Central 6 (Delaney 3); Oak Glen 7 (Polly 3). BLOCKS: Catholic Central 2 (Rohde, Riguad); Oak Glen 2 (H. Stewart, Polly). TURNOVERS: Catholic Central 18; Oak Glen 15.