Central Defeats Peacock In Junior Girls High School Basketball

Photos and Story By Robert Thomas

The rivalry between the Central Cyclones and the Peacock Toilers is legendary locally and Wednesday evening the rivalry once again heated up in high school junior girl basketball action.

In a game that put the two closely matched rivals together the Cyclones defeated the Toilers 40 - 30.

The teams were tied 8 - 8 at the end of the First Quarter in what was a low scoring affair.

The first half - although ending with Central leading - had the Cyclones starting to run into foul problems. So much so player changes were necessary to prevent players foiling out of the game.

Central Cyclones head coach Todd Johnson said the game was an indicator of how competitive the league was.

“It was a hard fought battle really evenly fought over again,” Johnson said.

“As I said before the league is really close and you could see it in the game,” he said.

“I think we are running our offense OK, our defense stepped up more and we seemed to box out more. So I think our defense sort of did it for us.”

About the Toilers efforts Johnson said despite the loss Peacock played a strong game.

“I’m impressed with the league everyone is coming out and playing hard for both teams. For the Central girls they practiced really hard so it is paying off for them.”

About the early foul troubles the Cyclones ran into it was part of the jumior game.

“As far as everyone learning the rules and learning what they can and can't do and learning what the referees are doing so the girls are learning from the refs.”

Johnson said he was happy with what he has been seeing in basketball throughout the City.

“I’m really impressed with basketball here in the city. It is really improving fame after game and it has got a good future.”

Asked about the large fan turnout with between 40 - 50 fans per team out cheering Johnson it was great to see.

“We're loving it and the fans are coming out supporting junior basketball. The girls really notice it when they make a play and the fans are cheering. We are always inviting parents and anyone else to come out and watch as it is really good basketball,” he said, adding the price is right as games are free to attend.

Peacock Toilers head coach Macaela Williams said the game had different tones throughout it.

“In tonight’s game I think we fluctuated a lot. There was a lot of up and down (the court) so every quarter was a little bit of a different game. Not a lot of consistency but overall I’m happy,” Williams said.

Although the Cyclones pulled ahead in the second half the first half was very evenly matched.

“As I said our girls came out and if we give that effort every game the games are going to be close. So that’s what our girls were trying to do tonight,” she said.

Asked if she thought it was indicative of the junior girls league this year with evenly matched teams battling it out Williams replied “absolutely.”

“The teams are evenly matched in this junior league.”

“It was a fun game tonight and it can only get better for both teams it’s going to be a great year.”