March 28, 2024

Ranked battle goes to Central Decatur

Red hot shooting early leads to Cardinals win over Raiderettes

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MOUNT AYR — Central Decatur’s Lily Simon came into Thursday’s game at Mount Ayr as primarily the fourth scoring option averaging 9.1 points per game.

The Cardinals senior stepped up her offensive game, becoming the go-to player.

Simon scored 23 points as the Class 2A fourth-ranked Cardinals routed the fifth-ranked Raiderettes 74-53 in front of a standing room only crowd.

Simon caught fire from three-point range early as the Cardinals dominated the opening eight minutes. Simon had nine points on three triples as Central Decatur raced out to a 29-12 lead.

Simon’s teammates set her up.

“The passes were great. That’s all you can ask for,” Simon said.

Simon’s high energy has been a spark for the Cardinals this season.

Thursday, she added the offense.

“She’s the energizer bunny. She is always on the go,” said Central Decatur coach Curtis Boothe. “She’s always aggressive. Her shots just haven’t been falling. Lily will not stop. She can keep shooting.”

Emma Atwood added six points, Raegan Boothe scored five, while Alli Masters chipped in four in the first quarter.

“We knew this was going to be one of our tougher games,” Simon said. “We wanted to bring our ‘A’ game.”

Simon finished with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-7 from downtown.

Mount Ayr was left staggering by Central Decatur’s hot start.

“We got a little shell-shocked” said Mount Ayr coach Thad Streit.

The Raiderette defense was a step slow chasing down the Cardinal shooters.

“We could not get out and cover them,” Streit said. “They were hitting shots left and right. They’re a good shooting team, but holy cow.”

Simon finished with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-7 from downtown.

The Cardinals offensive balance overwhelmed the Raiderettes. Atwood finished with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Masters poured in 17 and Boothe finished with 11.

“We were moving the ball,” coach Boothe said. “We had several people come up with assists and hit some shots.”

Central Decatur led 45-24 at halftime and 59-41 after three.

Mount Ayr closed within 14 on a couple of occasions in the fourth quarter, but Central Decatur always had a counter.

“We were making a run, then they hit a shot and then it’s 17,” Streit said. “We just could not get it below 12.”

Central Decatur’s defense flustered Mount Ayr’s repeated efforts to establish a presence in the post. Raiderettes standout post Kelcie Shields, who was honored before the game for recently scoring her 1,000th-career point, was held to seven points and only five shots.

“They were pretty physical down low,” Streit said. “We couldn’t get the inside game going very well.”

Megan Warin and Tess Shields each had 15 points to lead the Raiderettes.

UP NEXT — Central Decatur (12-0) has its second meeting of the season with Interstate 35 Saturday in Truro, The Cardinals host Lenox Monday in a game being made up from Dec. 16.

Mount Ayr (11-1) hosts Interstate 35 Monday in a makeup game from Dec. 16.