Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005 | 9:49 a.m.
Most people sit back and relax on their birthdays. But not Italee Lucas, who led all scorers Wednesday as the Centennial girls' basketball team cruised by Mojave 80-47.
"It was her birthday, and she did her thing," Centennial coach Karen Weitz said.
Lucas started the game by scoring the first six points for the Bulldogs, and finished with 35 points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals.
"I have been trying to get her to play consistent and firm," Weitz said. "She is a scary player, and has room to improve."
Late in the first quarter Lucas put down two free throws, then stole the inbounds pass and laid it in at the buzzer for a 21-6 lead.
"Our main goal was to stop Italee," Mojave coach Darrell Green said. "And that didn't happen tonight."
In the second quarter the Bulldogs capped off an 11-2 run when Whitley Cox took a no-look pass from Lucas to give Centennial a 20-point lead. The Bulldogs ended the half on a 14-5 run for a 45-18 lead.
"We were coming off a bad game at Shadow Ridge, and we only had one day to prepare," Green said. "Usually we would have two days to get ready for this game, but because of last week we only had one."
Games on Friday and Saturday were rescheduled for Monday due to the weather problems in western Las Vegas.
As a team, Centennial's girls combined for 38 rebounds, 13 steals and 17 assists. The Bulldogs had 19 more rebounds than the Rattlers and turned the ball over only six times during the game.
"Our weakness at the beginning of the season was our rebounding; we have been working on our rebounding and stressing it a lot more," Weitz said. "As a team, our goal is to keep our turnovers under 10 a game, but you can't always do that."
With the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, Mojave tried to look for its bright spots.
"We were scared in the first half -- one of my players had an open shot but didn't take it," Green said. "We were able to calm down a bit in the second half and play."
DeArira Williams led the Rattlers with 12 points and four rebounds.
"We had nothing to lose," Green said. "They have a lot to lose, so you have to come play them the same way they play you, and that's aggressive."
Cox added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs, and Kristina Kline finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
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